Santa of the Leaf
by SpinLord
Summary: It is Christmas in Konoha! But wait, no Santa? That sucks. One ninja will change that. He'll become the Santa of the Leaf!
1. Prologue

Hah! Can't believe everybody's favorite holiday is coming.  
>Actually, I'm not really authorized (read: eligible) to say anything regarding Christmas—I am, after all, neither a Christian nor a Catholic—but then I thought, 'Hey, why not make a Christmas NaruSaku fanfic while I'm at it?'<br>And don't question my pairing choice, I love those two idiots.  
>Naruto: Hey! Who's the idiot?<br>Sakura: Aww, we love you too, Spin.  
>Naruto: I sure as hell don't.<br>Sakura: Naruto. Behave.  
>Naruto: *gulp*<br>Aaaand ending my useless ranting, let's get down to business. Imaginary drum roll, please.

**xoxoxo**

Made by SpinLord  
>And to whom it may concern, this is written for you to read in Christmas<br>(I'm not celebrating, though, heheh)  
><em><span>Santa of the Leaf<span>_  
><span>A NaruSaku Christmas fanfic

**xoxoxo**

Prologue

Christmas is a coming

Snow is not generally common in Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village. Heck, it rarely occurs in the land it resides; the Land of Fire, respectively called Hi no Kuni.  
>The only time it snows is when Christmas is nearing, and when it does, the snow took its time to rain on Konoha. Last time it happened, the road was covered in ankle-deep snow.<p>

Nevertheless, Christmas in Konoha means good food, family gathering, snowball fighting…oh, and presents! That's for sure.

One person didn't have it like that. Well, not until recently. His previous Christmas as a kid was filled with prank-playing, store-trashing, and snow-piling fun. At least, that is what it would seem to people who doesn't know him well.  
>For a kid, he's rather lonely. No family, no friends, and no one to give him presents wrapped in a red bow-tie. His parents died when he was born. His mother actually belonged to a powerful clan, but that clan was deceased long ago leaving him as the only one left. No one wanted to be his friends since they saw him as a pest and loser. Probably their parents influence. This kid holds the most powerful of the tailed beasts that once terrorize the ninja world, the nine-tailed fox Kyuubi. Perhaps that's why the older villagers hate him. And as such, no one cared to give him presents.<p>

But, hey! If you look closely, that was written in past-tense.

The present version of him bears a wide grin on his face where ever he goes. He has a lot of friends now. Also, a team, a good sensei and teammates he'd die for, a wise—if not perverted—mentor (he's deceased, now. It has been so for three years or so. Bless his good yet perverted heart), and it goes on and on through the list. All of those people saved him from the loneliness, and he is in debt to them whether he knows it or not. That's why he intends to repay them. This is after all, Christmas, and what better day to repay them for their kindness?

**xoxoxo**

Well, you would hit me because of the short chapter. Don't worry, this is just the prologue. This was intended to be a oneshot, but I just had the feeling to put in the prologue. In the end, I don't know if it helps or not but enjoy!

:Written 5 days prior to Christmas:


	2. Chapter 1

**Author Notes: ****Now, let's get this story running!**

**This is the real part of the storyline, if someone might ask. And sorry if I offended any kind of culture with this story, I'm not Christian or Catholic so I'm not particularly familiar to Christmas itself, heheh. And sorry if the story doesn't make any sense.  
>This story is set a month or so after the Fourth Great Ninja War, and pretty much similar to canon. Slight AU, expect new things that will become of if the canon's war ending is like what I have in mind.<strong>

**Oh and this story might come out after Christmas. Sorry, but I got a little hiccup along the way. The same goes for my other stories.**** Hell, it might even come out after April Fools for all I know.**

**Extra Note: My pal, The Spider Writer, is currently writing down a story called When Two Worlds Collide. It's actually pretty good, but I can't figure why people won't actually give the guy credit and write a review or something. Seriously, readers, if you have time, try to read his fic. I highly suggest you do so, unless of course you're currently not in an area with a local network coverage; which would be a lie since you wouldn't be reading this note if you're not.**

**xoxoxo**

_Santa of the Leaf_

It is a calm day in Konoha. No sign of trouble up ahead, be it rain of kunais or shurikens falling from the sky; overall, your average day in the not-so average village. Yes, it is a peaceful turn of the era since the Fourth Great Ninja War has ended. With the Shinobi Alliance winning against the evil mastermind Tobi, the ninja world has once again been introduced to an era of peace.

Though, just because it's peaceful, doesn't mean it's uneventful. Missions are still being handed out, ambassadors are still being sent to different countries for peaceful treaties and finding diplomatic solutions.

And the Fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade, is still working her ass off in her office, stamping all paper works (read: devil in white sheets) stacked in front of her. Yep, just your average day indeed.  
>"Seriously, it is three days prior to Christmas and the damned paperwork haven't decreased one bit! I mean, what the hell!" she exclaims, which was rather informal considering her rank.<p>

Actually, it's because it's three days before Christmas that she has so many paperwork.

Forms and messages in every shape are sent to Konoha. It seems that every village decided that Konoha is big enough to host a Christmas party for the whole Shinobi Alliance, even the Samurai forces. She didn't mind that, she'd love the company of so many villages at once. But damn it, does it have to involve the freaking paperworks?

"Sometimes I wish Naruto would just be Hokage, already." she says, sighing in exhaustion.  
>No joke, Naruto could be Hokage, just not anytime soon as she is still in charge. Even though she could just give her title away to Naruto, he himself just won't have it that way.<p>

"A real Hokage should EARN his place! I'm not going to have that chair as a hand-me-down, Granny! Believe it!" he had said. Sometimes he's just too prideful for his own good with his ninja way and whatever else; must be her mother's blood in him.

Speaking of Naruto, he's been acting rather strangely lately. He's actually taking D-rank to C-rank mission a lot for quite a time now. Yes, you heard it right, D-RANK! The kind of mission he would think too boring to even exist!  
>Yet, there's been numerous occasion that he would ask for D-ranks. Sure he'd ask for upper-ranked mission too, because that's where the fun is, or so he said. But he would take lower-ranks when she didn't give him any higher ones.<p>

Now that she thought about it, he's not really taking D-ranks in particular. It looks like he's taking all missions in randomly. Either he's bored, or his wallet's contents are depleted.

"Tsunade-baachan! I want a mission!"

Speak of the devil. He bursts right through her office door. She swears, she'll need to replace the hinges, it's already breaking off. Huffing, she replies to the blonde, "I've got nothing but D-ranks right now, Naruto. Would you take that as well?"

"Actually, I'd prefer more challenging missions than D-ranks, but that'll do!"

"Hmm, let's see…we got cropping the fields, baby-sitting, ramen delivery, and there's a wood delivery request from the villagers; says they need some for the upcoming winter. Oh, and the Yamanaka Shop needs some help drawing in customers."

Contrary to her belief, he nods his head vigorously, "Those sounds okay."  
>She raises her eyebrow. Now that's getting interesting, she just said some work that she knows Naruto wouldn't usually like as he usually prefers kicking some missing-nin's ass rather than cropping the fields. "Oookay…which one?" she asks, a little suspicious of his odd behavior. Part of her didn't believe this is the real Naruto.<p>

"I'll take all of 'em, of course! I'll need the money!" he says, surprising the older blonde. Okay, not just one, but FIVE of them at once? He just keeps getting weirder and weirder. "It's not every day I get to see you take D-ranks. Why are working so hard? I thought last week's payment was enough to last at least a couple of days?"

"Nah, I just needed more money. I got something planned out."

"I figure you won't tell me what it is if I ask you, huh?" Tsunade asks. She just gets a shake of disapproval and a playful smirk from Naruto.

"You'll see it sooner than you thought you would, Granny."

**xoxoxo**

Three things are identical to Christmas: Snow, decorated pine tree, and presents wrapped in silver wrapping and red bow-ties.

…Actually, make it four things; a fat man wearing red furry sweaters. In other words, Santa.

Konoha is not your typical village. It doesn't reside in concrete jungles such as New York, so the knowledge of Santa's existence is only a bare myth around there. Most people there don't expect presents readily and secretly wrapped under the pine tree. Their parents hands them personally, so the children rarely thinks that the presents were from Santa.

Naruto, however, was different. His entire life has been filled with loneliness and no one was there to give him presents.  
>One thing changed that, because the late Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, deemed it necessary for the boy to have presents. But him being the humble person he was, the Third never confessed that he was the one that gave him those presents.<p>

Instead, he resorted to using Santa's name as the 'indirect present-giver'.

Naruto believed it as easily as he believed ramen is the greatest food in the world. In the end, he's probably the only kid in the village who believed in Santa; hence, the lack of Christmas spirit in Konoha. And now, said blonde is trudging through the streets of Konoha on his way to the village gate, going for the rice fields outside the village while pondering all of the above.

"Hehe! That won't be for long! Sooner or later, everybody will believe in Santa! Belie—ow!" his speech was cut off short as he accidentally crashes into someone. It doesn't help that said person was going the opposite direction from him. "Hey, what's the big deal?" he exclaimes. His shock and anger was short-lived, however, as he locks eyes with the person he bumped into.

"Oww. Naruto, just where the hell are you looking at?" the feminine voice scolds. The first thing Naruto registered was jade green eyes and short pink hair.

"S-Sakura-chan! What're you doing here?"

Haruno Sakura; Chuunin-level kunoichi of the village, apprentice of the Fifth Hokage Tsunade, his teammate and also what he would call his crush. Well, it's pretty one-sided, but he would care less about that. "What does it _look_ like I'm doing?" she says, holding some books up in front of him for effect.

"Umm…okay, you got me. What're you up to?"

"I just got back from the library, idiot." she sighs. She might be talking to the village's hero, but he's still her teammate and he's still horribly stupid, at least, in her point of view. "I'm the one that should be asking that. Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Naruto grins, "Oh, I just got some missions from Tsunade-baachan! I got at least five, but it'll be in the bag in no time!" he says cheerfully. Sakura cocks her head. It's no secret that Naruto has been mission-hunting for the past few weeks, but it still surprised her that he would go as far as getting five of them at the same time.

She shakes her head in disbelief, "I still don't get why you're going through so much trouble doing D-ranks. Just what are you up to?"

Once again, a mischievous smirk rises to his lips, "That's a secret only for me to know, Sakura-chan."

"Can you at least tell me what those cash you're collecting are for?"

"Secrets aren't secrets when you tell it, Sakura-chan," he says, his playful tone still lingering, "besides, it'll ruin the fun in it!"

She sighs again. Why would she bother? Naruto's too playful to get serious with most of the times. She imagines it's not easy for her master to talk seriously with Konoha's number one knucklehead, the task being nearly impossible.

Last time he was serious, though, he was dead serious. And she can never forget how angry he had been amidst the snow. Yes, the incident in _Tetsu no Kuni _(Iron Country) was a mistake on her part. She can't even begin to explain to him why she did what she did, let alone apologize for it.

He looks like he had already forgiven her about that little incident, but Sakura's smart enough to know he still had at least some resentment towards her, no matter how small. That's what she was afraid of; the idea of Naruto hating her. She's so accustomed to him being so cheerful around her that she can't comprehend the idea of him hating her.  
>But for now, at least he would still act normal in front of her…though she didn't know how long this problem will drag on.<p>

"Well, if you say so. Anyway, me and the girls are planning to go shopping. I know you wouldn't want to come, even without those missions in your hands. Guess I'll see you later?"

Her blonde teammate grins good-naturedly, which she has gotten accustomed to given his happy-go-lucky attitude, "Sure! Same time and place?"

Now, most people would think that they're setting up a date. They aren't. If they are, Sakura wouldn't be having a sad smile on her face when Naruto said that. "Yeah, like usual."

"All right! See you later, Sakura-chan!" he says, waving his hand behind his shoulder as he resumes his walk to the gate. He doesn't glance back long enough to see Sakura still standing there, staring at his retreating back until he is long gone.

No, they weren't setting up a date or anything like that. In truth, they were talking about visiting their third teammate, who happens to be in jail at the moment. _'How can he talk about visiting __him__ as if it's just like visiting an old friend?'_

'_**CHA! That's because he IS visiting his friend!'**_

Sometimes having an inner self has its uses; this time it's the benefit of having someone to discuss something with without any other person around you. They're not visiting a missing-nin who was the main factor of the Fourth Great Ninja War and one of the biggest criminals the shinobi world has ever seen. They're visiting their best friend and teammate, Uchiha Sasuke.

**xoxoxo**

_Later that day…_

Guard duties are boring. Well, it should be; people would rather get out there and run errands than stay in the village as guards. Usually, the Hokage would be there to scold them for the laziness they were showing, but even though she does it did little to help them stay awake. Most of them would already be snoring through their work, not worrying in the slightest bit that the safety of the village is in their hands.

Nara Shikamaru is one good example for this, while Inuzuka Kiba is the other.

"Why did Hokage-sama appointed us for this boring as hell guard duty again?" Kiba asks, tired of the awkward silence that had stretched since he and Shikamaru had got there. Said Nara clan member groans in annoyance, "Probably because no one else is around her to bother with this."

The brown-haired Inuzuka grunts in response. Shikamaru, on the other hand, almost lulled back into sleep by the pure boredom of the duty until Kiba begins talking again. "Seriously, can't she assign somebody else to go on guard duty? My muscles are cramping out from the lack of workout—"

For once, Shikamaru can't see the problem about that. Guard duty like this may be boring as hell like Kiba said, but it gives him time to do what he likes most; cloud-watching. And thank Kami it's still noon.

Other people wouldn't understand it, but this particular hobby of his is one that had kept him sane. Also, it helps to tune out every word the motor-mouth dog-tamer beside him is saying.  
>Sometimes, he wonders if he can transform into a cloud, then he would be able to just move slowly and lazily. He would care less if Sloth is one of the great sins, but the world moves too fast for his liking.<p>

Last time, their generation was involved in what had been the most chaotic Great Ninja War—he hoped it was also the last—history has ever seen. And be it by chance or just his bad luck, he had to re-kill his revived sensei.  
>And in a blink of an eye—at least for him—the war ended. He's glad that their side won thanks to Naruto, he'd shudder to think if it ended with them losing.<p>

"—even Naruto get to go out on missions while we're stuck doing this—"

'_Well, Naruto has his reasons. Don't think I know about it, though; he could've gone broke from his tab in Ichiraku__'_ Shikamaru thinks. Naruto never really did tell any of them his reason for going out on missions more than he usually does. Probably he lost a bet, but he never is the gambling type.

"—and I also can't figure out why Sasuke is still kept in jail after all he's done—"

'_Oh yeah, that too…_' Shikamaru thinks lazily. The last Uchiha, much to the surprise of at least every shinobi from the Alliance, had lost in a fight with Naruto.  
>The deciding factor wasn't any destructive Rasen Shuriken or flashy Kirin. Actually, the way Naruto win wasn't through a jutsu. Both of them were already had their chakra drained to the point they could no longer use jutsu to attack.<p>

It was Sakura. Somehow, she had slipped through her medical post and went to see her two teammates fight and tried to stop them from killing each other. Miraculously, Sasuke hesitated. A second of uncertainty about what he was fighting for and who was he actually fighting. Naruto? Konoha? Or was it just his prideful self as an avenger? That moment of hesitation granted Naruto a chance for his last attack.

A straight flying head butt to Sasuke's forehead.

In the end, he was brought back and was bound in chains. And while he knew that Sasuke, given the things he had done, should have got more than several years in jail, the Hokage had somehow convinced the Raikage to let him live.

He doesn't know how Tsunade did it, but the leader of Kumogakure was somehow convinced, even though the black-skinned man was the first one to have got angered by Sasuke's action.

"—maru? Oi, Shikamaru, are you listening to me?"

"Huh? Sure I am." he says off-handedly. '_But I'm not hearing you…__'_ He meant to add, but that would be too troublesome for his liking.

It is at that time that Naruto decides to drop in, "Hey guys! Whatcha doing?"  
>Shikamaru was grateful for Naruto's appearance; it stopped Kiba's ranting from piercing his ears. "Hey, Naruto! Finished your mission already? That was fast." Kiba greeted.<br>In truth, it had only been three hours since Naruto departed. And judging by the size of the rice field Konoha has funded, it should've taken longer than that to crop. Naruto, however, grins and said, "It helps when you can turn yourself into an army. Poor farmer thought he was dreaming when I finished cropping the fields in an hour!"

Aah, the magic of the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"Man, you're lucky you at least got to stretch your legs outside the village. We're stuck with guard duty." Kiba comments.  
>"Just your luck I guess. Want some advice? When Tsunade-baachan says that she wants to see you, be as late as you can. If it's nothing important like some gate-guarding mission like this, she'll eventually forget about it. Happens all the times!"<p>

"You should've told us sooner." Kiba scowls. If he knew this before, he would've learned the art of Tardiness from Kakashi.

"Well, I should get going. Got another mission to bag, see ya!" and with that, the Fourth's son disappears, dashing into the village.  
>"Huh, wonder why he is in such a hurry." Kiba says.<p>

As Shikamaru lighted a cigarette, he had only one thought passing his mind at that time, _Guard duty is such a drag._

**xoxoxo**

"Let's see…I think I can do these missions any order I want, but there's no telling Ino's shop might be open till sundown and that the babysitting business could wait that long, either." Naruto mutters.

An error he has come up with in the middle of doing the missions he got; he accepted it in one day! Which meant he had to finish all of it, in ONE day!

'_And Kami only made 24 hours for each day. Cropping the fields already took an hour, plus my departure and return time which was two hours flat. I started going out from the village at brunch time…10 o'clock, I guess? That leaves me with, umm…__'_

11 hours to do your job.

'_Ah, thanks!__'_

Anyhow, with 11 hours left to finish the day, Naruto has to pick the mission he supposed he has to do first. To him, babysitting doesn't sound so bad.

"Hmm…I felt like I know this address, but I can't put a finger on it. Where…?" he turns his head to his sides to search for the apartment number of the mission client. He got there all right, but the familiar feeling he felt was still there, if not stronger.  
>"Have I been here before?" he muses out loud, his face scrunched up in effort to remember. Before he can, however, the door opened in front of him.<br>"Ah, it's you, Naruto." a womanly voice says. Naruto's eyes opens as he realizes that he had heard that sound before.

"Kurenai-sensei? You're the client?" he exclaimes.

"Shush! The baby's sleeping." the red-eyed woman snaps silently, holding her finger in front of her mouth. Naruto cringed. He's not used with this side of Kurenai; preferably the over-protective side of her over her baby.

It wasn't that long that she gave birth to her only child. It's actually in the middle of the war. Maybe Kami saw it best that she gave birth to a baby while she's in the civilian compound. Lucky for her, her neighbor—she met her in the compound—happened to be a civilian medic.

"Uhh, sorry about that. So, I take it you're my client. What am I supposed to do?" he asks somewhat quietly as to avoid waking up the baby.

A smile creeps up the older woman's lips, then she speaks in a somewhat gentle voice despite her earlier snap, "Actually, I won't be gone for that long. I just need someone to take care of my baby while I go out on a mission. Think you're up for that, Naruto?"

Naruto chuckles, "You can count on me! I'm a natural with kids. But, Kurenai-sensei…"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you're okay with going out on a mission? You just gave birth and all; don't you think you should take it slow for a bit?"

Kurenai's eyebrows raise a fraction in amusement. It's obvious that Naruto is worried. She chuckles slightly; now at least she knows what made Hinata attracted to him so much.

"Shikamaru came by and said the same thing. Don't worry about me; I'll only be taking D-ranks since I've been out of duty for so long,", she chuckles again, "after all, who's going to feed the family if not me myself?"

Naruto winces. He hasn't expected that subject to be brought up again. Right, Asuma's dead now whether he likes it or not. Sometimes he forgets about that, and all those times Kurenai doesn't seem to mind. Seems that she has decided she can't grieve over the dead forever, even though he is her husband.

"Sorry." he says hesitantly.

Her smile is sincere; there is no trace of hurt in her face. "I said that you don't have to worry, didn't I?"

The blonde brightens right at that second, putting on his grin again, "So, where's the baby?"  
>Kurenai leads him upstairs to a room. As she opens the door, Naruto can see the childish furniture decorating the room. The room itself is painted sky blue in color. A window is well-placed on the opposite of the door, giving enough sunlight. A short cupboard is placed on the side of the room near the door. On it, there's a framed photograph; one of Kurenai with Asuma when he's still alive. By the looks of it, it's probably taken when he proposes to her in secret.<p>

And last, a small, fenced bed especially made for babies. Curious, Naruto took a step forward and peeks into the bed.

He is greeted with the angelic look of a sleeping baby; peaceful as if the baby's life never gotten grazed by war, even though he was born in the middle of one.  
>There's baby fat all over him, preferably his cheeks. Signs of black hair has already showing on top of the baby's head<p>

A smile comes up Naruto's lips and he has to hold himself from giggling. He can't help it; the baby's just too cute.  
>"He looks a lot like his old man…" he says fondly.<p>

Kurenai chuckles again as a warm feeling came to her chest, "He does, doesn't he?" She reaches out to caress her baby's cheek with the back of her hand, eliciting a cute gurgle from him. Naruto watches the gentle gesture and smiles silently. Truth was he's glad that they won the war. He shuddered to think what would happen to these two if they hadn't.

"Sensei, what's his name?" he asks. Contrary to what he thought would happen, Kurenai stiffens. Curiously, he places his hand on the older woman's shoulder, "Kurenai-sensei…?"

"I…" she pauses. There was a moment of silence as if she was contemplating what to say. When she did say something, her voice was shaky, "I haven't named him yet."

Naruto gave a questioning look; one with his eyes squinted shut and his head tilted to the side. Kurenai faces him and flashes him a hesitant smile, "Actually, Asuma already had a name for our little baby. But…he never got the chance to tell me the name. I haven't thought about a name for my little sweetheart." she tickles the baby's nose a little, making the cute little thing wake up; his small eyes fluttering open before yawning cutely.

Seriously, the baby is just one cute little thing. But he supposed all babies are like that.

Kurenai smiles as she picks up the now awake baby into her arms, "Take good care of my baby, okay Naruto? If he cries, that means he's hungry. He never cries when he has…a filled-diaper; you have to rely on your nose about that. He likes hearing music, but he particularly loves it when someone sings a song for him, especially lullabies." she says as she hands her kid to Naruto, who looked a little stunned by the instructions she gave him.

"Uhh, okay?"

"Right. I'll be back in two hours or so, have fun!" Kurenai kisses the baby on his forehead before going out through the door.

At that point, Naruto was left alone with baby in his arms (which to note was lighter than he expected). Two things he realizes; one, this is his first time he takes care of a baby.  
>"Well, it looks like it's a looong day for the both of us, huh?"<br>Two, he can smell fesses.  
>"Ah, shit!" he says, for a lack of a better word.<p>

**xoxoxo**

There's several downside when it comes to Christmas.

For one, the shop gets crowded several days before the long-awaited day. Civilian and non-civilian villagers would fill the nearest shop like bees would with a honey jar. As such, the villagers are bottlenecked in one place.

A bad luck for two kunoichi who happened to be in charge of shopping for their families. One of them—a pink-haired girl—has been complaining about it since they got in.

"Ugh, sometimes I just hate Christmas!" says the girl. Her companion, a navy-blue haired girl, looks a little baffled by the frontal absurdity. The only thing keeping her mouth shut is the fact that no matter how absurd Sakura's words are, she is, in a way, right about one thing. The shopping is taking a toll on her, too.  
>"Sakura-san, the people are looking…" she says.<p>

Plus, she's a timid girl by nature, so she can't put her own feelings into words even if she wants to.

"Hinata, they can look all they want, but my opinion for Christmas won't change no matter what!"

"Don't you think Kami-sama would get angry?"

"If anything I blame the Great One for making such a busy day like this."

"Sakura-san!"

Two other people, who are unlucky enough to get tangled into this mess, sighed.  
>"Are they always like this?" asks a red-haired, spectacled girl.<br>"Trust me. It's nothing new." answers the black-haired boy beside her, who had a cigarette in his mouth as a stress reliever.

Needless to say, when you put Hinata and Sakura in one same place, a clash politeness and brashness would ensue. Add Karin and Shikamaru to the mix, you'll have a walking circus.  
>"Sometimes I think girls are too troublesome to exist." Shikamaru sighs again, puffing out a cloud of smoke.<p>

Maybe it was just his luck; he finishes a job handed by the Hokage only to be tangled into another woman's business, this time as a grocery-holder. Frankly, he resents the female species of Homo sapiens (and still does).

"If girls didn't exist, how could boys exist?" Karin says as-a-matter-of-factly.

Shikamaru seems to ponder about the subject now that it has been brought up. It takes several minutes before he says anything else, "Point taken."

"Oi Karin, Shikamaru! Give us a hand here!"

Reluctantly, they did. It's not as if they could outfight Sakura in an argument. Even Hinata could get a little persuasive some of the times.

If anyone asks, this is not the first time they do this. Even though the last shopping trip was for a different occasion, and with no Shikamaru tagging along, shopping has been a trait for the girls for every weekend, even Karin.

And if anyone wonders how did Karin ended up here, safe and sound and in a shopping trip as if she hasn't worked for the Akatsuki? Well…

Honestly, the red-haired girl isn't so fond of remembering how it happened. But for the sake of the readers! For the sake of my tired hand! For this story to have a plotline!—Karin, if you please?

**xoxoxoFlashbackxoxoxo**

(Karin's POV)

I didn't thought it would come to this.

As soon as I was discharged from Konoha's, the medic—the pinky I met on the bridge when Sasuke went crazy—I think her name was Sakura, tells me that I'll be brought to the Hokage. Says that there's a trial going on. My trial.

I was not so fond of the idea. But, I knew there's no way a village would just leave me—a _nuke nin_ who worked under Orochimaru—be. Sakura was kind enough to tell me that it's going to be okay. That it is just out of formality that the council holds trial for something like this. If I am guilty enough in their eyes, my trial would be held already **before** the war began.

I didn't know why she is being so nice to me. Wasn't I her enemy? Didn't I help Akatsuki in their work? Didn't I just help Sasuke make his dark ambitions came true?

When I asked her all of that, she smiled and said, "You're not my enemy. And neither did you helped Akatsuki and Sasuke in any way. As long as I'm concerned, Sasuke brought it all himself and you're my patient for the day, got it?"

I don't deserve this...this mercy they're giving me.

I kept thinking that even as the trial begins. I tuned out everything the village elders and upper-class shinobi says against me. It's not as if I can say anything against them.

"The jury has spoken. Suspect is hereby declared GUILTY!"

It's not as if what they say is not true.  
>They're right; everything I've done is wrong. I am guilty in every sense.<p>

That was when he came in, barging through the door and howled loudly, "JUST WAIT A MINUTE HERE!" and he comes in with a flying kick. His chakra was still as warm as when I first felt him. And sure enough, that dark core I felt before was also there, but it felt kind of different. It's more…contained.  
>The geezers looked as shocked as I am. The only one who looks irritated was the Hokage, and her veins were showing on her temple.<p>

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing here? For your information, a trial is being held right now!" she growled.  
>"For your information, Baa-chan, I don't freaking care! Why the hell are you all saying that Aka-chan right here is guilty?" he shouted. Now, two things that concerned me; This Naruto was stupid enough to go against the Hokage herself, going as far as calling her an old lady.<p>

'Second of all, who the freaking hell is Aka-chan?' I couldn't help but think.

"SILENCE!" a voice boomed throughout the room. Oddly enough, it was one of the geezers—the one who wore a pair of glasses—that silences them all. I couldn't help but flinched. I rarely do, but hey, that was uncalled for.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you have interfered with our decision for the last time. You may be the village's and the war's great hero, but interfering with both Uchiha Sasuke and his companion's sentencing is unacceptable!" he said. Naruto looked like he's going to jump the old man anytime then, but he keeps himself in check.

"Well, accept it! Because I won't let you judge an innocent person wrong!"

"Innocent, you say? Did you forget that this girl is the one aiding the Uchiha in his conquest? Where's the innocence in that?"

Again, he's right. And I don't see how, or why for that matter, Naruto would answer that.

"She's as much as a victim as Sasuke is! Orochimaru took her in and USED her just like he did with Sasuke!" he bellowed.  
>"And she is just as much to blame for all of this as Sasuke is." The councilmen countered. I could see a tick of nerve growing on Naruto's temple.<p>

"You people are just the same as Orochimaru!"

Silence. No one dared to continue. The councilmen looked baffled and began to murmur between themselves before one of them said, "Uzumaki Naruto. That's as far as you will insult us. Do it again, and we will apprehend you." said the one using glasses.

"You think I care about that? If there's one thing I don't like, it is injustice! As future Hokage, I won't let you put a death sentence on an innocent girl!"

Again, silence. But the tension in this one was almost non-existent, as if Naruto just told us all a joke. I didn't understand why the room seemed to brighten a bit, and I can't put a finger as to why the Hokage suddenly erupted in laughter and the councilmen, believe it or not, sweat-dropped. The old guy with the glasses fixed his glasses up while clearing his throat, "I think we have a misunderstanding here…"

I didn't understand about what that guy said. At least, until what Sakura told me in the hospital came by. _'__This is just out of formality that they're holding a trial about something like this.__'_

I just had to slap my face in sudden realization.  
>"We weren't sentencing this girl here to death; there's no reason for that anymore. We were arranging the time length of her imprisonment. This is a political formality to every caught <em>nuke-nin<em> in this village. You DO know that…don't you?"

If Naruto had at least some sense of humility, he didn't show it.  
>"Umm…no? I guess I missed that in the Academy. Heheh…" he chuckled nervously; it's as if it was completely normal that he doesn't know about that kind of village trait.<p>

A guy with a scarred face and had his hair tied up in a spiky ponytail then said, "Shinobi Code 101, Missing-nin Chapter, verse 4: Apprehend every missing-nin on sight if possible and bring them back to the village for further procession. If you want to be Hokage, at least memorize that part…"

Naruto made a mock sniff—which by the way sounded pretty real—and jokingly wiped his eyes, "You're making it hard for me to be Hokage, uncle Shikaku!"

The earlier guy, Shikaku, grunts in annoyance. The village elder with the glasses then cleared his throat; he's probably had had enough of the whole misunderstanding, "It's settled. Uzumaki Naruto, for interrupting a trial and insulting the council brashly, you will be imprisoned along with Karin-san here for a month. This decision is final and unchangeable!"

The idiot's jaw dropped to the floor. He stammered something out, but I can't really make it out. I myself wasn't that excited with the idea. I mean, being in the same prison cell with an idiot that made me got into jail and added a few days to my stay there had to suck.

_Sometime later…_

So here I am, trapped in a prison cell on the underground level of Konoha's jail with probably the most idiotic, senseless idiot I've ever met.  
>It's damp in here. And the only thing that I can hear—other than my blond cellmate's ranting, which I tuned out anyway—is the dripping sound of water from the cracked ceiling above us.<p>

Overall, things went from bad to worse to horrible.

"I'm soverytruly sorry Aka-chan! I didn't mean for this to happen, honest!"

He's been doing that since we got down here, apologizing continuously. I realize it's not entirely his fault; key word being entirely. He had the knack for pissing people off, and I feel just that; pissed off. Utterly, pissed off.

"I didn't mean to get us both in jail! If only I paid attention to what Iruka-sensei taught me in the Academy maybe this wouldn't happen…" his last words comes as a drawl, I can barely hear it.

I huffed out of frustration. If I know something that would shut this idiot up, I would've done it already. I turn to look at him and all I see was this pathetic, teary-eyed face he shows as he continues apologizing. _'Well, at least that means he's honest…'_ I thought.

"Oh, shut up already! It won't make any difference whether you apologized or not; I'm already in jail, anyway."

His face brightened and he grinned goofily again, "So that means you forgive me?"

Next thing I know was that I felt a stinging sensation on my knuckles and that Naruto was on the ground holding his head in pain. And then I said, "NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!"

Or rather, I screamed that part.

He rubbed his head slowly as not to enlarge the bump I gave him. He mocked another sniff, "Jeez Aka-chan, you hit just as hard as Sakura-chan…"

"Don't compare me to her!" I said as I turned to face another way, a warm feeling came to my cheeks though only in the slightest bit, "besides, my name's not Aka-chan. I have a name, you know!"

He winced, which is rather obvious even though he tried to hide it, "Sorry, but you never told me your name. How else should I call you?"

"Can you at least call me something more intelligible than 'Aka-chan'? I don't get what you meant by that nickname, but people ought to have some misunderstanding about me; thinking I'm THAT close to you-"

"Your hair."

I stopped my rant. I didn't quite get what he said, so I asked him, "What did you say?"

"Your hair…and your eyes. It's just that…they're red and pretty and all," he scratched the back of his head and scowled, "so I decided to call you Aka-chan, since that's your most identifiable characteristic."

That warm feeling came again; only this time, it went to my stomach. And suddenly, I felt as if that warm feeling in my stomach is the same as the feeling I got when I felt Naruto's chakra. It stayed there, no matter how much I forced it to go away.

I didn't know whether that's a good or bad thing, but if anything I felt comfortable.

"…Karin."

"Huh?"

"My name's Karin. You better remember it well, because I'm not saying it twice and I sure as hell would not want to be referred as Aka-chan again!"

I thought that my face still faced the bars of my prison cell and had my back towards him, thus I can't see his face. But somehow, I could still feel him grin and heard him laugh.

"Karin-chan it is, then."

So the days passed by unknowingly.

Thanks to the introduction, the days in the prison cell were not as bad as it could've been. I grew more comfortable as the days passed as we both exchange stories and much else. Naruto would often crack jokes that would either result in me laughing lightly or my fist on his head. Both options may be contradictive, but that's what happened.

It's strange, though. Me getting along with him feels so natural it's almost scary. It felt like I've supposed to know him for a long time. Well, in a sick, fairy tale-like way.

Things had been brighter since then. Both the idiot and I had come to understand each other; a lot had happened, and stories were told among other things.  
>I told him about how Sasuke ended up like he did and how it all started when he asked so. Naruto, though he didn't like it one bit, was grateful that I—however reluctantly—told him about his raven-haired somewhat-brother. Now at least he knew the Uchiha's motives, but he still didn't understand his reasons.<p>

"Actually, I'd blame his curse mark. But if it was, why wouldn't go back to normal when it's gone?" I once said, knowing even he didn't know the answer to that.

In exchange to that piece of information, Naruto had answered my questions about his the dark core of his chakra. It surprised me that he hosted Kyuubi, the nine-tailed fox in him; actually, it surprised him more that I didn't know about that. In the end, I told him my share of experience with one of the _bijuus_.

"Before I was brought in by Orochimaru, I grew up in Kumo. I've lost many things to a host-less Hachibi in one of his rampage. Parts of my family—preferably my parents—have been killed and was counted as collateral damage when the eight-tailed ox once broke through the village's walls. They were, after all, normal civilians.  
>"I lost my parents, so I left the village and got stranded in Rice Country. It happened to be the exact time Orochimaru had began to build Otogakure, and as such I was recruited immediately. Plus, my sensitive chakra-sensor ability intrigued him the most."<p>

That's why I was surprised to find out that Naruto hosted one of the _bijuu_ in him, yet maintained control of it even though he got Kyuubi—inarguably the strongest of the nine—to be responsible with.

Naruto gets where my surprise came from, since he knew the reason behind the cold stares the villagers gave him when he was eight. He said I would've done the same thing as the villagers if Kyuubi is the one ravaging her village and family.

That's one of the few things I disagreed with him, "It would be hard to do so if you're the receiving end of my stare, being the idiot you are."

I meant that as an insult, actually. But he laughed, rather care-freely if you ask me. He said that he was glad I'm the way I am, even though I didn't understand what he meant.

Then came the day we were released from the jail. I was a little disappointed; he WAS, arguably, a good company. He then said he needed to go to some place called Ichiraku Ramen; said his stomach was starving for some '_ramen__-__y_' goodness.

I didn't even know that that was a word.

I called him one last time before he left; told him that I felt grateful to know him. I can still remember his grin until now as he said the same thing to me.  
>Maybe that's what difference between him and Sasuke. For as long as I can remember, Sasuke has been pushing anyone and everyone away, including me. Even when me, Suigetsu and Juugo were part of his team he pushed us all away.<p>

I wonder then and there; if Sasuke have been pushing people away his entire life, why did Naruto still linger where he is? Did Sasuke not push him away? Or maybe he just simply gave up pushing that idiot away because he is—as I have discovered in our time in prison—refusing to be pushed away? His bright personality is the exact opposite of Sasuke's. He attracts people, rather than repelling them.

I chuckled. They're just like two ends of a magnet, aren't they?

**xoxoxoFlashback, Endsxoxoxo**

Well, at least that's what happened. She can still remember that day as clearly as she can see sunlight.

"Hey, Karin! Quit spacing out and get moving, you're getting left behind!"

Sakura's voice brought her out of her reverie with a start, and she exclaims "EEH? Wait up, you three!" She breaks into a small run to catch up to her new friends' pace.

No one ever knew how her meeting with Naruto had so much of an effect on her life. The after-effects of that incident included: Making friends with a whole lot of new people, the opportunity to taste what could be said the most delicious ramen ever cooked, and, most importantly, a chance to start over.

Granted, Konoha wasn't home; it's far from it actually.

But at last, she has a place she could return to.

**xoxoxo**

_Yamanaka Flower Shop_

The door's just started to close. Ino just had to count down to one, and anytime now that last pestering customer would leave for sure.

Three…

That old hag still had the nag to stall by waving a goodbye to her. Not wanting to be caught glaring at her as if wanting to shove her out of the door, the sky-eyed girl waves back politely.

Two…

The door begins to creak close. But, for Kami's sake, why does it feel like the door's moving too slow for her liking? It's as if that piece of wood was mocking her. '_Come on…just close already!__'_ she thought.

One…

'_Victory at last!__'_ she cheers mentally.

If only…

It is at that precise time that a hand halted the door's movement, and it takes all Ino got not to slump to the floor bawling like a baby. Putting a somewhat tired smile—with no more radiance coming from it—she greets the newcomer, "Hi, welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. How may I—?"

In her mind, the automatic translation of what she just said, which was 'Hey, get the hell out of my shop! Get out so I can get some—!' is also cut short.

"Naruto?"

Of all people, it was the loudest blond (Ino's the second, at least) in the village to barge in her shop like this, carrying what looked like a bag if the straps circling his shoulders was enough proof for it.

"Hey, Ino! What's with the look?"

"What are YOU doing here?" she asks…well, demanded is the more appropriate term.

He shrugs, "Fulfilling a mission request, D-rank, what else could it be?"

Ino pauses. Then, she assumes a thinking position as her thumb and index finger pinched her chin lightly. When did she request some help for her shop? It's past the open time and her last customer had just left—

Oh.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE HALF AN HOUR LATE FOR THAT MISSION!"

Naruto cringes, "Mou, take it easy Ino, you'll—"

"YOU COULD'VE COME EARLIER SO I COULD STOP PLAYING CASHIER!" she continued yelling; a vein grows on her temple as a sign of her irritation.

"But, Ino—"

She's not stopping, at all. Well, being the second loudest blond the village ever produced, that's obvious, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU CAN BE SO UNDISCIPLINED—"

"YOU'RE WAKING UP THE BABY!" Naruto, unable to hold it in any longer, yells in counter. The effects, though…

"Waaaaaa…!" Great, the baby's awake and bawling, probably because of the stinging sensation in his ears. Poor kid…probably doesn't know that he is in the presence of the two loudest blonds in the village.

"AAH, look what you've done!" Naruto exclaims as he put down the baby from his back and switched position so that he is cradling him in his arms.

Ino, for her part, blinks in surprise. How she could not notice that Naruto was carrying a baby on his back is beyond her; probably because the baby was asleep. Well, not anymore, anyway. "Naruto…that's…?"

"Kurenai-sensei's son. I had to take care of him while she goes out on a mission."

"Kurenai-sensei's…?" Ino asks once again. Hard to believe the baby Naruto's carrying was Kurenai's; and in turn, it is also her sensei's son.  
>She stares blankly as Naruto began making faces and talking in baby language—if there was actually something like that—to calm the baby down. Unfortunately, though, the baby keeps wailing like a fire alarm and his waterworks just keeps on coming.<p>

"Gah, where's my talent with kids when I need it? Oh come on, just stop crying already!"

As if it isn't bad enough, Naruto is one big baby himself. Sighing, Ino walks around the counter towards a struggling Naruto before taking the baby in his arms into hers. Naruto blinks in confusion, not understanding Ino's intention. That was, until she begins to sing.

"~Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird.  
>And if the mockingbird don't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring.<br>And if the diamond ring turns brass, Momma's gonna buy you a looking glass…~"

It's a lullaby. '_That's right. Kurenai-sensei said someone should sing a lullaby to calm the baby down. Thank you, Ino!__'_ Naruto thought.

He watches her in amazement as she continues to sing the little baby into sleep again. She still hums the song as the baby's eyes begin to droop a little.  
>Naruto keeps an eye on Ino's single move. A sway right, her blond ponytail moved to the side accordingly. Another sway to make the baby sleepy and the sing-song tone still evident in her voice.<p>

She sings the lullaby to the baby, looking like a mother at that time.

…a mother.

It is at that time that Naruto's vision begins to haze and he could swear that Ino's hair turns red with her ponytail gone and that she wears clothing that are not purple in color. The figure which takes over Ino's place was humming the same song in the same motherly-tone, and she was swaying in the same way as well.

When Naruto blinks, the vision was gone. It has reverted back to Ino, who is now laying the baby on a couch placed near the counter.  
>"Learned that from my mom. She used to sing it when I was a kid and had nightmares. Don't tell anybody, but I still liked that…song…" Ino slows down her monotone dialogue—or rant—as her eyes lands on Naruto.<p>

"Naruto?"

It seems, whatever the spiked-haired Uzumaki was thinking, Ino's voice had snapped him back to attention. "Huh—wha…? Oh, sorry Ino. You were saying?"

It's not just the stammering response he elicited that startled her. It's just the other fact.

"Are you…crying?"

"Eh?"

He reaches out for his cheeks and rubbed them. True enough, there are tears streaming down from his eyes. Surprisingly enough, he doesn't even realize when he began crying. "Huh? When did I…?" he mutters. He begins to rub his eyes furiously, "I…sorry, Ino. Must've got a dust in my eye or…something", he finishes lamely.

Ino pulls a handkerchief from her pocket and hands it to Naruto, who looks startled at first but accepts it anyhow with a small "Thanks". He proceeds to wipe his eyes dry.

Ino stares at him, wondering what has gotten into her blond companion that he shed tears so suddenly. She didn't do anything wrong, did she? Or did she?

"Did I do something wrong? Did my song kind of offended you or—"

"No! No, your song's beautiful," he blushes as he realizes what he just said and mutters a curse under his breath, "it's nothing, really."

Ino quirks an eyebrow, hearing Naruto's impromptu compliment about her singing. She smirks as she then says playfully, "You're not trying to flirt with me, are you, Uzumaki?"

The person she is talking to chokes on his own breath out of surprise, which then leads to several coughs before he manages to say even a word, "Heck no! I'm just saying you're a pretty good lullaby singer."

"So, maybe my voice is so beautiful you cried because you're so touched, huh?" she says, puffing out her chest in pride, "Yeah, I DO get that a lot."

Naruto chuckles, "Maybe, maybe not. Hard to tell when after you sing all I hear is the sound of pigs. Like, oink, oink!" his chuckle grows into a full-blown laughter.

In turn, as expected, a mountain grows on Naruto's head after several minutes of head-bashing violence. Oh, thank God the baby's sleeping.

"Anything else you want to say?" Ino says sweetly, if not so threateningly. A vein grows on her temple, and she's visibly twitching.

"N-no, ma'am…" Naruto whimpers in fear.

Ino sighs. The problem with Naruto is whenever you think you got him cornered he surprises you with something…surprising. The after-effects included people got really stunned and people wanting to beat the shit out of him. No wonder Sakura rants non-stop to her about this idiot; she could tell, anyone confronting Naruto would need a stress-reliever.

"So, I take it you're still in for that mission, huh?"

Naruto nods vigorously, the bump in his head bobbing up and down so naturally it's disgusting, "You bet, _dattebayo_! I can take on anything you give me, Ino, so long as I get the mission done before sundown!"

Ino grins, "Sundown, huh? I wonder about that…well, I'll need you to take care of the garden in the back of this house. It needs some watering and stuff so I can get a new batch tomorrow."

"You got it, Ino! Oh, I mean, I got it!" he says, dashing through the open door to the garden.

Ino giggles light-heartedly. Naruto can be so silly, sometimes.

"Right! So that means I get the rest of the time for myself!" she giggles again, feeling giddy all of the sudden, "Now…what should I do now…?"

The baby comes into her view, and she can't help but make a quick decision for what she's going to do for the rest of the hour. She sat on the sofa beside the baby and pulled him into her arms. "Guess it's just you and me now, huh you little thing?"

The baby seems to like it, too. If the smile on his face isn't enough proof.

**xoxoxo**

In other places, preparation for Christmas is already ongoing. For example, in Kumogakure, the village hidden in the clouds, several people important people are preparing their gear for a four-day long travel to the village hosting the Christmas festival, which is Konoha.

Those important people included: Fourth Raikage Ei, his bodyguards Darui and Shi, Killer Bee's students Omoi, Karui and Samui, and last but not least, the Jinchuriki of the Eight-Tailed Ox; Killer Bee himself.

The latter of the group, though, is not present at the time. He is not anywhere in the village for as far as the Raikage can tell. Unraikyo, Bee's private training grounds, was empty when he sent two Jounins there to check. The Raikage even checked Bee's favorite sleeping place—the ceiling of his office—and still his rap-loving brother was nowhere to be found.

"Of all times to abruptly disappear, he chose now when we're getting ready to leave?" Ei shouts out of frustration. His secretary, ever the loyal employee, stands still ignoring the tremble that suddenly shook through her body. She is used to Raikage's burst of anger every now and then, but that doesn't mean she doesn't get scared by the sheer malevolence the big man gives out.

I mean, heck, the guy can get into a forehead flick competition with Tsunade and it will end in a draw.

"Sir, with all due respect, but are you sure we've checked everywhere?" she finally asks, receiving a glare from her superior.

"If we haven't, I would not be complaining about this." he says, popping his knuckles, "Oh, when I find that bastard of a little brother, I will give him a punishment of a lifetime!"

"Raikage-sama, do you think that Bee might be a little unprepared for this travel?" Darui suggests off-handedly.

His boss quirks an eyebrow in curiosity, "Care to explain what you mean, Darui?"

Said dull man—no offense, but his name literally translates as so—clears his throat before explaining, "Bee might be preparing something for the Christmas festival celebrated in Konoha. I don't have any idea what is he planning, but there's a possibility he'll use it in the festival."

Raikage scratches his chin, "Hmm…Bee IS a somewhat productive person. Maybe you're right, Darui, but I wonder what's he performing?"

"My guess, sir, it's probably _enka_ rap."

"A what?"

Suddenly, the door to his office bursts open as another figure comes in while bearing a huge grin, "Brother, you look kinda famished~! Hey y'all, I finally finished~! " says the figure, who sports a standard Kumo vest without any undershirt and black long pants, a scarf and a pair of sunglasses. On his back were eight short swords and a gigantic sword which resembles more of sharp thorn-like shark skin with a handle. The sword, true to its characteristics, is named _Samehada_ (Shark Skin); formerly belonged to the late Akatsuki member, Hoshigake Kisame.

"Finished what, Bee? Maintenance for your sword?" asks the Raikage to his illegitimate brother.

"No brother! What I finished was not a yap, I've just finished my new _enka_ rap~! Yeah!"

At that, an uneasy tension grows between the Raikage's subordinates when the Raikage himself grows a vein on his temple. When Bee starts off with one to two lines of his rap, Ei already has his hand in a vice-grip on the younger's neck.

"You fool! You wasted time just to make a stupid rap song? I'll punish you with the Iron Claw!"

"NOOOOO!"

Thus, hours after that Raikage and his group leaves Kumogakure. While Raikage wonders when will the reparation for his office—now reduced to rubbles when he used the Iron Claw punishment on Bee—finish, Omoi mutters, "I already had a bad feeling about all this."

**xoxoxo**

There are some things that you can't see in this world; whether God forbid to or you just didn't have the chance to.

For instance, you don't see a war hero watering plants in his garden like an old lady. Heck, even if you caught Captain America doing so, you'd be under the impression that he's a member of his fan club using an old costume from a cosplay convention.

Ino, for God-knows-what good deeds she had done, has the chance to see Naruto gardening like an old lady wearing an apron; plus several clones around him doing more or less the same thing. When one of them is watering the flowers, others would give some fertilizer to said flowers. When some of them are rearranging the pots to get some sunlight, another bunch of them would tidy up the spot where the pots will be placed. All in all, it seems he got everything under control.  
>She can almost see the flowers blooming instantly.<p>

"Wow." is all she could mutter out. If her amazement can be put into words, she would say…well, how should she know? She simply couldn't put it into words.

Naruto notices Ino standing in front of the back door leading to the garden, "Oh, Ino you're here! Look around for a sec. Am I doing all right?"

"All right? You turned my shitty flower farm into a miniature Amahara Garden1!"

"Uhh…is that bad?"

Ino gapes and stammers incoherent words, thinking of how could Naruto thought that he's not doing okay with her garden?  
>"No, silly! You're doing better than I expected!"<p>

The baby in her arms, already awake since before Ino decided to check on Naruto, begins giggling happily showing his incomplete teeth. Ino grins as she ruffles the baby's black hair, "Look, he likes it, too!"

"Good to know I'm not flunking my mission." Naruto says as he flashes his own grin.

"But seriously, Naruto, how can you do gardening so well? Last time I checked you can't even make a simple ikebana."

"I have a little garden back in my apartment. Heck, I don't know if you can call it a garden at all; it's just some pots stacked on my balcony."

Ino hums in understanding. The little garden set Naruto has is actually a present from Chouji when he had his birthday celebrated several years ago. Ino herself helped in picking the flowers, and she is relieved to know that her flowers hasn't got turned into ash from lack of care.

Looking back at Naruto's work of her garden, she felt a little introspective about that.

"I still can't believe you did all this…" she says, trailing off as her mind is once again overcome by amazement. So taken by the garden is she, that little slips from her hand and crawls onto a table with pots on it.

"So I guess we're even?" Naruto asks jokingly.

"Huh? What about?" Ino asks back, confused.

Naruto grins again at her, "You took my breath away with your singing, and I took yours with my gardening."

Ino blushes at the compliment, and she is grateful that Naruto doesn't notice it; otherwise he wouldn't let her live it down. Quickly taking control over her blush, she replies, "Huh, you got ways with words, Uzumaki. At least that much I can say. No wonder Hinata's head over heels for you."

"Hmm. Probably, but Hinata knows as much as I do that we won't work out. It'll be a bit...awkward." Naruto says as a small smile makes its way up his mouth.

"Because of Sakura?" Ino's question is pretty bold. Even she is surprised that she has the nerve to ask something as personal as that, but curse her big mouth and curious mind, she just did.

Naruto shrugs; apparently he's not affected by Ino's blunt question, "You could say that. I mean, I'm happy to have someone to love me. Hinata is nice and all, and she really is, but my heart isn't for her. Probably never is."

"That's kinda cold, you know."

Naruto lets out a soft laugh, which is rather melancholic when it reaches Ino's ears. "It is, isn't it?"

"Has it ever came in your mind that she might get upset because you rejected her? I mean, she **has** been in love with you since Kami knows when." her tone gets slightly higher, somehow finding that girl-friend solidarity inside her directing her anger to Naruto. That's not her fault, at all. '_Has it ever occured to you that you could break a girl's heart?' _Ino thinks. She's not cruel enough to voice her thoughts.

"...It's not as bad as how you picture it, Ino." Naruto finally says after a long silence, before turning to face Ino. "And you should know better. Hinata...she's not that kind of weak girl that breaks down when rejected. Talking to her is never that hard, at least when she's not stuttering." he chuckled. Flashbacks of the day of his conversation with her came back to his mind.

"Though, I admit, it was hard looking her in the eye since that." he says, sighing.

"What do you mean?" Ino asks. At first, she was angry at Naruto for rejecting Hinata's love; that's just freaking selfish to her. Now though, her anger dissipates when the deppresive atmosphere comes into play.

Another sigh from the same person sighing the first time. The male blond turns away to continue his work on the plants.

"Keep it a secret, Ino? But I'm actually kind of afraid to talk to Hinata this time around. I'm...sort of avoiding her right now. I'm afraid that she'll be angry at me—or worse—and we won't be friends anymore."

"_Baka_, and you say you know her better." Ino snorts, "Hinata won't be angry if you didn't do anything wrong that time other than rejecting her."

"I know, but I'm not taking chances. Girls are scary when they're angry." he says, pouting to the side at the end of his sentence. Can't blame him there; the ONLY girl figure he knew since he was little is Sakura, and she bashes his head in when she gets angry.

Ino shakes her head disbelievingly. She still can't understand why Hinata would ever let Naruto go. I mean, come on, if Naruto ever had a fanclub Hinata would be in the front line. "Why haven't I heard any of this?" she asks.

"Maybe you're just too loud for your own sake?" he says off-handedly as he picks up a potted plant up and brings it under the sunlight.

Ino snorts, "Well, since all of that is sorted out, maybe you can get Sakura to fall for you." she suggested.

"Hahaha...the day Sakura will fall for me may be the day that Santa decides to come visit Konoha." _Which pretty much means, never_, he wants to add, but he doesn't want the cheery atmosphere drops low just because he says that.

Ino snorts again. Naruto has no idea how impossibly wrong he is. But he probably never will, unless Sakura decides to make the first move. He is pretty dense, after all.

Silence stretches through the conversation. Neither of them says a word to the other as Naruto continues to work on the plants in front of him. Ino looks at him, and I mean REALLY looks at him. When she does, she caught a glimpse of something from the male blonde's eyes; some kind of faraway look, and something akin to bitterness.

"…Hey, Naruto?"

"Hm?"

Ino hesitates for a moment, not knowing how to proceed with her question. Should she beat around the bush or just be blunt about it? In the end, she decides the latter, "Why did you cry back then? Is something wrong?"

Naruto doesn't answer her immediately. He stopped his work, too, so Ino knows she just hit a tender spot, "Um, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I'm just curious, that's all…"

"I…I had a vision."

"What do you mean?" Ino asks again, slightly relieved that Naruto answers her, but still curious.

Naruto takes a deep breath. He doesn't know how to say this to Ino of all people, heck he doesn't even know why he is considering to do so. But somehow, he feels that Ino has the right to know. "I don't know what happened but…I sorta thought that I saw my mom when you were singing."

"Your mom? Are you sure? I didn't use any _henge_."

"Not something like that. I just…I don't know, I guess I'm just being delusional." he laughs slightly, continuing his work again cutting off some wild leaves from a bush of roses.

Ino looks at him sadly. It's no secret to everyone that Naruto was orphaned right when he was born. Sakura once told her about how Naruto had this kind of cheery mask on his face, but if you look closely, whenever he's caught thinking alone he drops it. Whenever he does get caught thinking alone, he slips the mask back on in the presence of everybody else, but his smile—not his grin, not the smug smirk he flashes, his _smile_—never reaches his eyes.

She unconsciously puts her hand on his shoulder, surprising him, "I'm sorry."

He grins at her, just as Sakura told her, slipping his mask back, "Don't be. It's not your fault that every mom sings the same song for their children." he jokes.

Ino smiles at him. She is, whether she wants to admit it or not, kind of envies Naruto's ability to ignore his own problems and yet still able to put a smile on everybody else.

"Hey, come on, cheer up! If Sakura-chan finds you down to the ground because of something I said, she'll show hell to me!" he trembles, the image of a fiery-eyed, Sakura beating the snot out of him coming to his mind. The same shows up in Ino's mind, and she begins to giggle at the stupidity of the image.

Imagine, a chibi-Sakura holding up a nailed-baseball bat and smashes it into chibi-Naruto's face repeatedly.

"Okay, okay. But only because I pity your position of being Sakura's personal punching bag." Ino smirks. Naruto laughs out, "You don't know how right you are."

As he says that, one thing comes to his thought. Something is missing. "Hey, Ino…do you feel like we're missing something?"

Ino perks up at the question, now beginning to feel the same thing, "Now that you say that…I guess we ar—"

Both of them turns to each other, eyes wide as plates and mouth dropping lower than Orochimaru when he summons out his Kusanagi sword. Yes, they have forgotten one crucial thing they supposed to look after.

"THE BABY!"

Said baby is now dangling on a loose rope hanging on the ceiling, apparently imagining that he is Tarzan the Ape-Man. But you can't really blame him, can you? He has a **Sarutobi**-type blood in him; so of course he'd do something monkey-ish sooner or later.  
>Sadly, him being Tarzan was just a fleeting dream, a pure fantasy. The baby begins to lose his grip on the rope, scaring the shit out of the two blond babysitters more than anything that had ever scared them.<p>

"Naruto, get him!"

No seconds are wasted; Naruto dashes forward and positions himself under the baby to catch him. One thing he miscalculated; he steps on an empty pot laying itself conveniently on the floor. Said pot leads him to be more slippery and, seeing the momentum he is going with, makes the spiky blond crashes into a wall.

With Naruto rendered useless, Ino is left by herself to deal with the baby in distress, who seems content with swinging back and forth with the rope he's losing his grip on. Ino curses—nothing new there—as the baby suddenly falls to the ground, "Holy shit!"

Instinctively, she weaves her hand into the seal she's gotten used to for years before yelling out, "_Shintenshin no Jutsu_ (Mind Transfer Jutsu)_!_"

In mid-fall, the baby's consciousness is replaced with Ino's. In control of the baby's body, Ino spins her body and prepares her, err, the baby's hands and feet to land in a cat-like fashion. It works, and Ino, err, the baby sighs in relief.

She then meant to say 'Thank God, the baby's safe.' but her words come out in a childish babble.

Blinking, baby-Ino looked at her—

(Ah, screw this, the baby and Ino has too many differences it's frustrating. I'll call baby-Ino hybrid as 'she' for now!)

Blinking, baby-Ino looks at herself. Muttering a curse, which comes out in yet childish babble, Ino cancels her jutsu and her consciousness slips back into her original body.

As Ino's astral projection returns to her body, so does the baby's. Said baby looks dumbfounded as he finds himself sitting safely on the ground. The short-term memory-loss is the least of his problems, because when he looks up to see his blond nanny glaring at him with fiery eyes.

"Listen. Whatever you do, you will never do that again in front of your mom, got it? Poor Kurenai-sensei might get a heart attack."

The baby tilts his head sideways, not understanding what the hell Ino is saying as it is not in baby language. In return, he can only let out a small, "Iii?" out of confusion. Ino blinks then envelopes him in a bear hug. "You're just too cute to get angry at!"

Naruto emerges from the pile of broken pots to see Ino strangling life out of the baby (or at least that's what he sees.), "Oi, Ino! Don't kill the baby! I know he just given us a heart attack, but he's just an innocen—oomph!" Ino punches his head with one hand.

"You idiot, can't you differ a hug with a choke?"

The baby, for his part, looks at both of his babysitter pensively, before giggling childishly. "Na! Na!"

"Huh? Hey, he's trying to say something!" Ino says, halting her head-bashing for a while. The baby waves his hand wildly to his front. Taking that as a sign that the baby wants to move forward a little, Ino leans forward albeit a little hesitantly. Naruto stared at the baby's little hands as it keeps swinging wildly. And as the baby is a mere foot away from Naruto, he does the bravest thing a baby would've done, and his name will be remembered for eternity for it.

He will also be promoted to Hokage-rank when his age suffices, because he has bashed the self-proclaimed future Hokage and son of the Fourth Hokage on the head.

"Ouch! Hey, what the hell was that for? _Ittai_, his fist packs some mean punches…" he says, rubbing his head from the sudden pain. He had received worse punches before, but the baby's strength still shocks him.

"Oh, wow. Good job, kiddo!" Ino says cheerfully, ruffling the baby's hair once again eliciting an excited giggle from him.

"Tch. Sometimes I wonder if he even knew who I am." Naruto mutters, pouting.

"Oh? And who would you be, -than-a-baby?" Ino says tauntingly, pushing out a tongue.

"You forget? I'm the future Hokage! When I'm Hokage, this kid is going to be on my top list of D-rank takers!" Naruto says before laughing out maniacally, "Oh, the pleasure of handing D-ranks to your underlings! Mwahahaha!" That sounded rather similar to a particular snake-sannin more than he likes; but screw that, his first evil laugh is pretty good.

Ino bonks his head after hearing his idiotic speech, "Idiot, don't go stating this little guy's future. You're not Neji."

Naruto winces and rubs his head through his yellow hair. He doesn't which is worse; getting hit by a BABY or getting hit CONSTANTLY by Ino.  
>The baby, for his part, just keeps giggling at the fist exchange in front of him. If he isn't so cute and fragile looking, Naruto swears he's going to cave his face in.<p>

Truth is, he can't. Thank God.

He turns to the baby, "But I mean, seriously. This kid got a mean swing. If it were any baby, I won't feel anything at all. This kid, on the other hand, I felt like flinching a little when he hit me."

"Must've got that talent from his father, this kid…" Ino says, hugging the baby even tighter. Remeniscing her sensei, she can't help but feel warm and all fuzzy inside just by holding his offspring. She suddenly looks up to the ceiling as if remembering something, "Hey, Naruto that reminds me. We've been calling the baby not by his name. Just what is his name?"

Naruto scratches his head, remembering about the fact also, "Well, to be honest, he hasn't got a name yet. Kurenai-sensei said that Asuma-sensei already got a name for him, but well…you know!" he cut himself before he says something downright depressing, "Anyway, point is, Kurenai-sensei hasn't got a name for him for a while. I guess she'll be thinking about it."

Ino hums in understanding, nodding her head up and down. If it's true that Asuma had the baby's name with him, trying to discover the baby's name will be like trying to grab a cloud.

Because Asuma is, well, dead.

Then, an idea pops in Ino's mind. Though she is counted as a fast-thinking, productive kunoichi, she is also one of the reckless ones. Still, this might work.

"Hey, Naruto…what you say WE give him a name?"

Naruto looks at her, giving her the "are you nuts?" kind of stare which prompts her to say again, "I mean, he DOES need a name. And Kurenai-sensei hasn't found one yet, either. We can give him one ourselves!"

"I don't know about this, Ino…you sure Kurenai-sensei would be okay with it?"

"Jeez, you're such a worrywart. Relax; she'll be happy we give him a name! Who knows, maybe we might give him a name accidentally the same as which Asuma-sensei wanted to name him!"

"Well, when you say it like that…" Naruto says, closing his eyes assuming thinking position. Kurenai DID said that the baby hasn't got a name, and that she is trying to find one for him. This, here, is a big gamble. The bright side of the coin is that Kurenai would be happy once she finds out they gave her son's name. The dark side, unfortunately…

'_Ah__, screw the dark side. What's a year-long of guilt when you compare it to making someone happy?__'_ he thinks.

"All right, Ino. Since you suggested this, I think you already have a name for him?" he says, finally. His question caught Ino surprised. Honestly, she hasn't actually thought a name for the little boy in her arms.

Great. Just proves how reckless she really is.

"Uhh…n-no actually. Heheh…"

"You're hopeless."

"Hey! You haven't thought about it, either!" she says, pouting.

Naruto sighs. In the end, it always comes to him to decide things. Doesn't Ino know that if he fails to give the baby a good name Kurenai would figuratively kill him?

"Let's see…we should give him a name that represents who he is. Something…something that describes his character." he says hypothetically, rubbing his jaw for wise-guy effect.

"And what would that be, Mr. Kudo2?" Ino says sarcastically. "If anything, I think the name Aki would fit him. He is a "bright" bundle of energy, aren't you little guy?" she says, and asks the baby in a sweet tone. The baby giggles and squirms in her arms.

"Meh, that's too general. Almost every civvies in this village is named Aki. Besides, "autumn" is kind of depressing, don't you think? Season of falling leaves is a tad bit contradictive to our village."

"Heh. Never thought you're the fatherly type, Naruto. Where did you learn that?" Ino scoffs. Actually, she's a bit surprised Naruto has some experience in giving names.

Said male blonde shrugs, "Read a lot."

"Uh-huh," Ino says disbelievingly, "So what do you suggest? Akihiro?"

"Could you be more uncreative?" it was Naruto's turn to be sarcastic, even though he doesn't know what 'being sarcastic' is.

Another bonk to the head, "Shut up! Well, since you're the smart-ass I guess you know what name you're going to give him!"

Naruto rubs his head in pain for the umpteenth time that day. He sees the baby flinging his fist playfully again, as if attempting to hit him too. This kid is really a special case. He seems to take a liking in Ino's show of violence hitting Naruto downwards on the head.

'_Damn it. If he grows up into a fine man like his father while retaining his love of head-bashing violence, he can really shatter anyone's head with his fist.__'_ He thinks.

Naruto blinks, as if realizing something. Then…light bulb!

"Oh, I know! I know! How about Kyouretsu?"

Ino stares at him incredulously, "That sounds fragile. I mean, "Shattering"? You're suggesting that this baby is that weak."

Naruto waves his hands in front of him at Ino's accusation, "No, no, not like that! I mean, Kyouretsu (Shattering) as in _Kyo__u__retsu na Ken _(Shattering Fist)!"

"Huh?" Ino lets out. She is lost, that much is obvious.

Naruto sighs, so much for an understanding between blondes, "I think Kyouretsu really describes him. I wasn't joking when I said he packs a punch; he really does!"

"So you name him just because his punch is slightly stronger than normal babies?" Ino asks, confused.

"It's not just that. I mean, it represents who he is. Plus, I'm hoping that he'll be a tough guy like his dad. Both of them use their fist to fight, right? It'll be the perfect name for him!"

Ino's mouth gapes open, left speechless.

Naruto tilts his head to the side. Comically, the baby, Kyouretsu, copies his movement as they both stares at the frozen-in-the-spot Ino. Moments later, one of Ino's arms lashes out to Naruto. Taking this as a hostile act, Naruto instinctively closes his eyes; fearing that he'll get hit once again. To his surprise, Ino's hands doesn't land on his head. Rather, it lands on his shoulder.

"Naruto, you are inarguably THE most idiotic ninja of all times! Yet, in a way, your logic DOES makes sense."

"Eh?"

"You're right. Now that you mention it, fists are Asuma-sensei's weapon of choice if you leave out his knuckle knives," she pauses as she hoists Kyouretsu up a little and brings him into fist-range from Naruto. Sensing an opportunity to hit the older male, Kyouretsu swings his fist wildly while giggling, "and it looks like he got his father's traits."

"Excluding being a chain-smoker?"

"Amen to that." Ino jokes.

Naruto laughs out. Kyouretsu is still swinging his fist until Naruto grabs his small fist in his bigger hand gently. Naruto stares at the fist-swinging mistfit who stares back at him with childish glee in his eyes. Grinning, the blue-eyed future Hokage ruffles Kyouretsu's hair, eliciting a playful laugh from the baby.

"Kyouretsu, you'll have to learn how to punch properly when you're bigger. If you continue throwing hooks like this, you'll get the hell beaten out of you by kids bigger than you." he says gently. Kyouretsu, though not understanding what Naruto is saying, talks in childish drabble in reply. Ino chuckles softly seeing the ridicolous exchange between the two. "You do know that you're talking to a baby, don't you?"

Naruto sticks out a tongue at Ino, and then continues his talk, "More importantly, you'll have to know who you're messing with. You can't blindly swing your arms without knowing who's your enemy and who's your comrade." he drew in a deep breath, "And remember one more thing. Don't let your fists shatter your dreams. Use it to shatter the obstacles preventing you from achieving it."

Kyouretsu has a look of confusion on his face; his eyes squinted and his cheeks a bit puffy. He regains his usual cheery self when his fist succesfully connects with Naruto's skull. For his part, Naruto just rubs his head wearing a look of utter disappointment. "After that speech, he still had the nag to bash my head?"

Ino laughs unable to contain the mixture of mirth, amusement and ridiculety of it all, "Of course, you idiot! How do you suppose a baby could understand a word more than two syllables?"

Naruto pouts just like the child he is not really is, "Ungrateful little brat..." He mutters.

"Language!" Ino snaps, which gains a scared whimper from Naruto. Feared he may be, but he's not by any means fearless. An angry kunoichi is one of the things he fears most; having one in his team doesn't help it in a bit. "Jeez, no need snap at me, you know..." he mutters. Suddenly, there is a sound of a bell ringing from the front door of the shop. Ino looks back at the shop and wonders out loud, "I thought I already put the closed sign on."

**xoxoxo**

_Sometime earlier..._

"It seems you're overworking yourself again."

Sakura blinks at the sudden comment Tsunade just said to her, and asks back to her master politely, "What do you mean, Shishou?" Tsunade sighs at her student's question. Sakura probably hasn't noticed it, but she has really turned into what Tsunade is absolutely not; a workaholic. The pink-haired girl spends her time in the hospital even more than herself, even though Tsunade **is** the Head of the Medical Staff. The effects are already showing on her apprentice; slight bags under her eyes, slightly paler contrast on her skin color, and the constant zoning out Sakura has done since she entered the office. Tsunade's not an idiot, nor is she an ignorant drunkard (though the drunkard part isn't so far from reality), and Sakura isn't so hard to read also.

"Were you listening to what I have been saying all this time?" She asks, trying to prove her accusation right.

Sakura looks at her master, gaping as she did so, "Of course I have, Tsunade-shishou! Let's see...the hospital fund is decreasing, but you said that it's a good thing since that means no one is getting hurt too much. Konohamaru sprained his ankle again in a mission and you told me to look into it and try to fix it. And, umm..." She trails off near the ending of her report. The blonde Hokage raises an eyebrow, as if taunting her student to say more, "And?"

Sakura gapes at her superior; her mouth opening and closing as she tries to remember that last particular detail Tsunade was talking about. "Err...you, um, need more _sake_?" she suggests, smiling sheepishly while scratching the back of her head. She feels like she's shrinking under the blank stare of the Hokage. She realizes that her suggestion might make the Hokage angry, but Tsunade's need of _sake_ is almost undeniable that that's the first thing that popped in her mind.

Tsunade blinks. She tilts her head sideways and places her thumb and pointing finger to her chin, assuming thinking position, "Actually, I DO need more _sake_." Sakura brightens up and thanked the higher power for fixing her mistake. '_Thank you, Kami. I swear I will be a good girl from now on and I won't even complain about Christmas shopping anymore!'_

"However, that's not what I was talking about, Sakura." And all those praises to Kami was flushed down the toilet. "It's pretty obvious, actually. You're getting panda eyes and you haven't even notice it." Tsunade says jokingly, watching her apprentice gets flustered and rub her eyes; probably trying to hide the black circles under her eyes.  
>"Y-yeah, I guess I might've been pushing it too hard." The pink-haired kunoichi says.<p>

Sighing, Tsunade puts the report file she was holding down and looks straight at Sakura's emerald eyes; her own eyes searching for any kind of traces that might explain her student's strange behaviour. She doesn't find anything, and she doesn't like it one bit. Everyone is behaving strangely; Naruto going on D-ranks like a freaking homeless hobo, Sakura acting like she hasn't got any sleep since forever. What's next? Shikamaru running 100 laps around Konoha while Maito Gai plays shogi? Bitch please.

"Well, bottom line is you're tiring yourself out, Sakura. I suggest you take some days off, otherwise you'll pass out sooner or later." The Sannin says begrudgingly. Half of her is positive about sending Sakura for an off-day, but that also means she's going to take up her (actually) designated place in the hospital. More time in the hospital means less time for _sake_. But, since it's for her very own apprentice, it might not be so bad. Or so she says to herself constantly.

Sakura, however, looks like her master just suggested her to dye her hair black, "Wha—but Tsunade-shishou, I-!"

"Are not fit for prolonged work in the hospital." Tsunade finishes the sentence. "Look, Sakura, I know you've been working hard to live up your title as my stand-in in the hospital. Truth is, you've been doing better than I expected, and I'm proud of you." At this, Tsunade points her pointer finger towards Sakura just as she brightens up due to her praise, "**However**, I remember telling you that a medic is just as effective in her work as her concentration is. Judging by how exhausted you look right now, I bet you won't be able to hit a can with a kunai3."

Hearing her master underestimate her, her pride flares up, and her eyes lights up like a star comically like a certain spandex-wearing shinobi, "Wanna bet?"

Although Tsunade still bears the title 'Legendary Sucker', she's pretty confident of her 40 years experience of gambling, and her own eyes lights up like a star, "I put 50 ryou in it."  
>Suddenly ecstatic, Sakura grabbed a kunai from the holster strapped to her right thigh and flings it to...Tsunade's bottle of <em>sake<em>. The bottle splits cleanly in half and a good portion of the sinful liquid flows out. And with it, so does Tsunade's tears. And with the tears flowing out of her eyes, so does the 50 ryou out of her wallet. For her part, Sakura smirks like the she-devil she is while her inner self giggled uncontrollably in her mind. _**'Take that, Shishou! You're 50 years too early to take me on a bet! CHA!'**_

Clearing her throat, "Ahem," Tsunade then continues, "Putting the fact aside, I won't argue with you about this. I'm ordering you to take a week or two to enjoy yourself a bit." Though the idea of the so-called maternity (wtf?) leave seems tempting, the pinkette can't help but feel a little hollow to think about that. Days without work of any kind? As one wise man would say, 'What's the purpose of that, I'd ask?' Heck, Sakura **devotes** her life to work. She has been since her childhood life, which was full of chores. "What should I do in the meantime?"

The elder female shrugs, "Go out, visit the hotspring, get a tan. You know, LIVE a little." The younger sighs; her master has NO idea what does work means in her life. "It's the least of what you deserve after all of your hard work." Her master adds.

Sighing once again pitifully, Sakura nods at her master and turn to take her leave. All the while cursing all troublesome blonds in the village. '_Speaking of blonds, it's almost time to get Naruto. But he's still on a mission, wasn't he? I wonder...'_

"Tsunade-sama, do you have any idea where Naruto could be right now?" she asks the blonde Sannin. Said Sannin looked thoughtful for a moment, before asking back at Sakura with a raised eyebrow, "Why would you want to know?" Sakura fidgets under Tsunade's inquring look uncomfortably. She hesitates on saying anything, worried for no apparent reason.  
>"Umm...well, you see, it's almost time for us to go visit Sasuke-kun in the prison. Well, I...don't really know where he is right now and I thought you'd know." She says, stuttering mid-sentence.<p>

Tsunade's hazel eyes softened a bit after hearing Sakura's reasoning. The apparent hesitation in her apprentice's words was so visible that Tsunade almost felt ashamed to even ask her for an explanation. For a moment, her stomach heats up in anger by the thought of the last Uchiha. Tsunade knows that visiting Sasuke in the prison has became a routine for both her second student and her knuckle-headed shinobi. And judging by how that routine effected Sakura (resulting in her exhaustion), Tsunade feels that it's not fair that the Uchiha teammate of theirs gets so much attention from his two former teammates who don't give a shit about their own condition.  
>Still, if she tries anything at Sasuke, Naruto would be so angry he might—Kami forbid—turn rogue, while Sakura would got so sad she might—Kami forbid, yet again—drown herself in <em>sake<em> just like her master did.

"Well, it's already nearing sundown. I think he might be at the Yamanaka's. One of the mission he took requires him to do some chores for the shop." The blone Sannin says. Sakura smiles at her master before nodding to her and excused herself from the office.

The Fifth Hokage sighs when the pink-haired kunoichi closed her office door. She stands up from her throne-like chair and walks up to the windows behind her desk, gazing at the village she swore to protect and one bundle of pink jogging away from the Hokage building.  
>A thought passes her mind. And in that one second, the image of her late, white-haired perv of a teammate pops up in her head. She chuckles softly, "I still can't believe that those three walked up the same path we did, yet they ended up in a different place than us." A nostalgic smile makes its way up the Sannin's face as she continues, "I guess it's a matter of luck, huh Jiraiya?"<p>

If said Toad Sage were here at the time, he would laugh out loud and spew out about how ironic she just sounded.

**xoxoxo**

As Sakura slows down her pace—opting to walk instead of wasting her energy to run to Ino's shop—her shoulder slumps. She just remembered that she has no plan whatsoever about how to spend the rest of her time off. Granted, her master suggestions were acceptable, but old habits **do** die hard and a day without work is a day without play for Haruno Sakura.

"Great. Guess the workaholic syndrome runs through the Haruno blood." She sighs, knowing that even though what she just said was absolutely irrelevant. For some reason, the only Haruno members she was fortunate enough to get in touch with are her parents, and her uncle from her mother. Her parents are retired ninjas, working as merchants from time to time and are probably just as hard-working as their daughter is. That's proof number one.  
>Proof number two includes her uncle as somewhat a perfectionist. Being the kind of person he is, that means his work is always clean and top-notch.<p>

She was wondering whether or not the Haruno clan members even know how to have—and spend—some fun time, when someone suddenly called her name. Turning her body around, she meets the face of one scarlet-eyed kunoichi. "Wha—Kurenai-sensei? What're you doing out here?"

Kurenai smiles at the younger ninja, seeing the priceless surprised look on the pink-haired girl's face, "What, I'm not allowed to take a stroll around the village?" She says, grinning at the still stupefied Sakura staring at her.  
>"I just finished a mission Sakura. No need to look all surprised like that." Sakura snaps up at the senior Jounin and asked her curiously, "So...you're already alright taking missions?"<p>

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, with you just gave birth to your baby a while ago, you'd think you might want to take it easy for bit?"

Kurenai **almost** pouted at the comment, but instead she huffs, "I don't know why you all think I'm such a weak person. Seriously, have a little faith in me!" She kind of lets out a scolding tone at the last sentence. Sakura scratches her cheek sheepishly, mentally kicking herself for suggesting that the Yuuhi descendant in front of her is so weak she can't even take a simple mission. '_I mean, she's a ninja for a reason! Really, why would I think such a thing?'_

"Sorry, Kurenai-sensei...I guess I just get worried about you." Though the apologetic tone behind Sakura's voice is sincere, Kurenai didn't really need to hear an apology. She taps the younger's shoulder, "I'm just teasing, Sakura. Jeez, I thought you'd be able to take a joke for once, being around Naruto and all."

Sakura perks up after hearing her teammates name, "Hey, just because I'm around him all the time doesn't mean I'm the same knuckleheaded idiot he is!" Kurenai actually laughs at that one. She ruffles the pink hair on Sakura's head affectionately, chuckling, "You're really not, are you?" She pulls her hand back to her side, leaving a slightly annoyed Sakura fuming, "By the way, Sakura, would you by any chance know where Naruto is right now?"

"Naruto? Tsunade-shishou said that he's right at Ino's shop. He might still be there now. Do you want to walk with me there? I'm sort of looking for him, too." Sakura suggests. Kurenai smiles warmly at Sakura before nodding to her and walks up to her pace.  
>"What is Naruto doing at Ino's shop, actually?" Kurenai asks, curious and hoping that Sakura might have the answer. Sakura looks thoughtful for a moment, looking up as if trying to remember, "Well, if I'm not mistaken, one of the missions he took involves him doing chores for the flower shop. Why?"<p>

Kurenai looks perplexed. Now, she is—like Sakura had said before—a Jounin for a reason, and she always keeps track of time. The last time she left her baby with Naruto was about an hour and a half or so. And judging by Sakura's explanation, he should've been at Ino's shop for at least an hour. So there's two options.  
>Option one: Naruto used shadow clones and sent one to work at Ino's while he takes care of her baby. That's the most reasonable option, seeing that there's no way Naruto would bring the baby to work...right? She hopes, because option two consists of: Naruto taking her baby while at the same time working at Ino's, doing two missions at the same time. Now, while that is also a reasonable option for an effecient ninja, Kurenai also gets worried about her baby.<p>

"Kurenai-sensei?"

The dark-haired Jounin snaps out of her trance, looking at Sakura dumbly, "Y-yeah?"

"Umm...we're here."

True enough, they've arrived at the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Only problem is, the 'CLOSED' sign hanging at the door means that the shop has finished their work for the day. "Well, that's odd. Ino sure finish up early today." Sakura says, pushing the red button on the wall beside the door, ringing the bell.

"Are you sure that they're inside?" Kurenai inquires.

Sakura shrugs, "This is the only place both of them could be at this time."

Sure enough, the door finally creaks open and reveals...Ino carrying a baby. Ino's eyebrows shoots up in surprise, "Sakura? Kurenai-sensei? Wow, you both came here just in time!" She says cheerfully.

Kurenai looks at the blonde girl, stupified. Okay, now that's **her** baby that the Yamanaka is holding. Problem is, she left her baby with the **other** blonde, which is nowhere to be seen. Sakura, for her part, freezes in shock. Ino, holding a baby—a cute one at that—which brings out many speculations. One of them? Who's baby is THAT? She hesitates for a moment when a thought passes her mind. '_Could it be...Ino's?'_

A second later, another blonde comes out from Ino's back and, seeing both his client and his teammate outside, grins gleefully, "Kurenai-sensei! Sakura-chan! Talk about great timing. I was just going to set off looking for you two!"

Now yet another thought passes Sakura's mind. '_Naruto, Ino and a baby...WHAT! C-could it be...?'_ She thinks. Meanwhile, her inner self has different line of thoughts, though still on the same train, _**'CHA! Ino-pig and Naruto-baka had an early bun out of the oven already!'**_

'_Wha—that's absurd! There's no way Naruto would do that, and Ino wouldn't have any reason to hide this from me even if they did, uh...it just doesn't make sense!'_ She thinks back, mentally defending both of her friends' dignity.

'_**Hell yeah, it does! Naruto has been away from our radar too long that we haven't noticed this!'**_

Well, putting aside the double Sakuras' debate for a while, Kurenai quirks an eyebrow at both blondes, confused as hell, "Okay, first off, why are you bringing my baby along to another mission, Naruto?" Hearing this, Naruto chuckles nervously, looking terrified by the sheer malevolence of the over-protective-mother-mode Kurenai is using. "Well, uh...you see, I'm a bit behind my schedule. Actually, I planned on finishing both mission before sundown, but I realized there was no time to do babysitting at one time and doing chores for Ino at the other." Naruto raises both his hands, emphasizing the two missions, before clasping both of his hands and says, "So I improvised by doing both at the same time. Pretty effecient, huh?" A stupid grin makes its way up his face. However, no matter how sound Naruto's reasoning are, Kurenai still seems pissed off that Naruto brought her baby to work, "That doesn't change the fact that you didn't actually take care of my baby, in my safe home. Rather, you take him to work where he might hurt himself." Naruto has to admit, Kurenai looks so freaking scary she might win against Yamato in a stare contest.

At this point, Sakura realizes one fact, _'So...that's Kurenai-sensei's baby?'_

'_**CHA! The chance still stands!'**_

Sakura mentally frowns, _'What does that suppose to mean?'_ Usually, a person's split personality is always said person's part of mind; so anything that the inner says will be fully understandable by the original. But, perhaps Sakura's inner self has a mind of its own.

Her inner self snorts mentally, _**'Oh, admit it already. You're jealous of them when you thought that they had a baby.'**_

'_Wha—I'm not like that! Why would I be jealous, anyway?'_

'_**Um, hello? Land of Iron, amidst the snow? Jeers up any memory for you?'**_

Sakura blushes at the topic her inner brought out, _'That's...that's irrelevant.'_

'_**Ooohh, so you DIDN'T mean what you said back then?'**_

'_YES! I-I mean, NO, of course not!'_ She wonders how the hell she manages to stutter in her **mind**. Is that particular topic so embarassing for her that she stutter in her freaking mind? And why the hell should it be so embarassing anyway? She did what she had to do back then, and she's pretty sure that the idea wasn't so embarassing the first time it popped in her mind at that time.

Okay, once again putting double Sakura's mental debate aside (which is pretty crazy, when you think about it), we focus more on the overly-protective mother hen that is Kurenai, guarding her supposed "hatchling" from the clutches of the somewhat—for a lack of a better word—thieving fox that is Naruto. Naruto, now sweating bullets under Kurenai's Dark Style: Dark Glare jutsu, is trying his best to keep his composure, "Um...aah, it-it's not really as bad as how you made it sounds like, Kurenai-sensei. I mean, we took care of the baby carefully; me and Ino. As of now, you won't have to worry about his overall scores when he enters the Academy."

The Yuuhi mother looks skeptically at the young Uzumaki, "And just why won't I have to?"

Behind Naruto, Ino is making small signs here and there to try and tell Naruto to cut it out. But be it her small hand waves, her obvious hand-cut-neck signal or her tugging at Naruto's collar, Naruto didn't seem to notice it. He's too under pressure by the tense atmosphere that it dulled his senses.  
>And so, the oblivious spike-haired blonde continues his downfall, so to speak, "Well...he seems to be very sensitive to sounds. He wails like a fire alarm when he heard me and Ino yell at each other." Kurenai's eyebrow twitches, though it goes unnoticed as Naruto talks again, "He is quite the stealthy one. One time, I lost sight of him and noticed that he's gone after quite a while." Twitch. "And he's very adapt in rope-clim—mff!"<p>

Ino already had enough of her fellow blonde's idiocy AND his obliviousness of the fact that he's currently making things worse, so she covered his mouth with her free hand. She has to admit, cradling a baby with one arm while holding Naruto's mouth is quite the task; especially when his mouth just won't stop squirming under her palm. She also has to admit that his lips feels kind of good under her palm. She blushes at the thought, quickly covering it up with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, hey, Kurenai-sensei! We also found a name for the little guy!" She says, quickly covering up Naruto's dumb mistake. The twitching on Kurenai's eyebrow stops, and her eyes looks at Ino confusingly, "You did?"

"You bet we did! Right, Naruto?" Ino nudges Naruto in the ribs, causing him to yelp out. Reluctantly, Naruto looks up at Kurenai, laughing nervously and scratching his cheek awkwardly, "Y-yeah! We did." Now, he has no idea how this might turn out. Like he had thought before, there's several consequences of getting a name for Kurenai's baby. On the bright side, she might be happy and thank them both. On the dark side, she might've already has a name for her baby, and the fact that her baby already got named by both him and Ino might get her depressed. And Kami knows what comes next.

Amazingly enough, thanks to some higher power, Kurenai seems interested. "Really? Now that's a surprise." She says, keeping her face neutral. She raises her hand to her chin, cupping it with her fingers, "Not that I didn't expect it. But it kind of surprises me that you two would be the ones to give a name to him." Naruto pouts at her comment. Certainly, not many people expect a lot out of Uzumaki Naruto.

Sakura decides to join in the conversation, "Eeeh...so you two thought up a name for this cheeky little guy?" She pinches the baby's cheek gently. Though most baby would cry when pinched like this, Kyouretsu giggled childishly at the gesture.

"Yup, we sure did!" Ino says gleefully, raising a thumbs up to her pink-haired friend. "Wanna know what his name is?" She asks, turning to Kurenai at the last second the question left her mouth. Kurenai, frankly speaking, looks curious herself; if the leaning in towards the blonde duo isn't enough proof, "Let's hear it." She says anxiously.

Ino smiles cheekily at the older woman before turning to Naruto, "Naruto, will you do the honors?"

Naruto sputters out of surprise. His spit got stuck between his larinx to just prove how surprised he is. He snaps his head towards Ino, "M-ME? Why me?"

Ino snorts, amusement visible on her face because of Naruto's over-reaction. She shakes her head while Kyouretsu copies her head movement comically, "Because **you **named him, you knucklehead. And because you did it so well, you're the one who should tell Kurenai-sensei her son's new name." She pokes at his chest sharply, making him wince, "Or is the future Hokage such an irresponsible person that he won't take his chances?"

Visibly growling at Ino, the Uzumaki turns his head to Kyouretsu who is giggling at the funny scene before him. Naruto takes in a deep breath, _'All for the baby, all for the baby...'_ He thought continuously. Acquiring new courage, he faces Kurenai dead in the eye, "Well, Kurenai-sensei...we named him for who he is, and how he acts. But, mainly because from now on, his name is his character." He stops, closing his eyes to remind him that this is all for the baby, and he won't back down from Kurenai's unwavering gaze. His eyes flicks towards Sakura for a second and, seeing her looking at him expectantly too, he continues onward, "This little guy hit my head two times. And I have to admit, he got a mean swing.

"I'm naming him so that he can use his fist to shatter the obstacles standing in his way to becom what he is meant to be." He looks back at the baby in Ino's arms, looking at him sparkly-eyed. How only now he realized that his eyes were that of his mom's is beyond the blonde Uzumaki. He chuckles before continuing his speech.

"His name, if you let it to be...is Sarutobi Kyouretsu."

A pair of red eyes widens; the pair owned by the elder woman. For a moment, there was silence, and Naruto starts to sweat as the air felt a bit more chilly.

"_Kyouretsu..._" Kurenai says as if testing the name on her tongue, trying to familiarize herself with the given name of her son. Her son, hearing the name, giggles as he flails his fist again. Well, flail as much as a toddler could. Kurenai loos at her baby and smiles. She stepped forward and gestures for Ino to give her Kyouretsu. Ino, understanding the silent signal, nods and hands the little arm-flailing kid to his mother.

"I think...that's a suitable name. Furthermore, he seems to like it." Kurenai looks up and smiles warmly at Naruto, gratitude shining from her face, "_Arigato, Naruto."_

The blond stares at the red-eyed woman, before letting his grin figuratively split his face. "Glad both of you like the name! I was pretty sure you're angry at me for giving him a bad name!"

"Well, it's not the name I'm angry about..."

"Eh?" Naruto exclaims, dumbfounded. His face, however, turns into one of horror as Kurenai executes her Dark Glare jutsu once more on the poor blond while a tick of nerve visibly pops on her temple.

"I'm still angry that you didn't do your mission as I told you to. And because of that, I'm going to half the payment for this mission."

"EEEEHH?"

Naruto gapes while his brain goes haywire, Ino holds in a wave of laughter, Kyouretsu just tilts his head curiously, and Sakura face-faults because face-palming is too mainstream.

"B-but, but I need the money! You can't do this to me!" Naruto exclaims. Now, his halved payment will be his plan's downfall.

"Actually, I can. Shinobi Code 15, Client chapter, verse 3: If anything should happen in the mission that isn't in the client's favour, the amount of payment will be the client's decision. Didn't you learn that in the Academy?" Kurenai says, raising a curious eyebrow.

"GAH! You and Uncle Shikaku are so nerdy!"

"Care to repeat that?" Cracks resounds from Kurenai's knuckles.

Naruto pales at that. Ino, meanwhile, shivers behind Naruto at the sight of the horror, _'Kurenai-sensei is scary!'_

Naruto is saved, however, when Sakura joins in and forcefully brought his head down in a bowing manner, "He's terribly sorry, Kurenai-sensei! Please forgive his idiocy!" She says, much to Naruto's protests.

Kurenai shakes his head, "Really, sometimes I wonder how you could be so trustworthy, yet clumsy at the same time." She takes Kyouretsu from Ino's arms, giving her baby a warm hug. "Next time, learn to do your mission as requested. I won't need to tell you what'll happen if the client disapprove your 'independent' decisions, now do I?"

Naruto's shoulder slumps, and he nods sullenly, "No, Kurenai-sensei."

Both Sakura and Ino have to keep themselves from giggling out loud, seeing the pathetic look on Naruto's face. Actually, pathetic is too much of an understatement. What, with anime tears literally flowing out of his eyes and a pout on his lips, it's rather hard not to feel sympathy for the blond ninja.

After that, Kurenai bids goodbye to all of them. Little Kyouretsu even gets the chance to bonk Naruto on the head once more, much to the older male's chagrin. Thankfully, his fear of Kurenai outdoes his irritation towards the little baby. And so, only three people are left in front of the Yamanaka flower shop. Ino shakes her head, still not believing what happened today, "Seriously, did you do this for all your mission, Naruto? I feel kinda bad for your clients."

"Hey! I'm not that stupid! I can do incredible things in a mission, whether it's babies or missing-nins!" Naruto declares triumphantly.

"Is that so, Naruto?" Sakura says, joining in the fray, "Missing-nins I can believe, but...babies? Not so much, I'm afraid." She says, her eyes full of false pity when she looks at him. And the pity grows even more after she sees him pouting yet again. "Sakura-chan, you're mean." He says, sulking.

Ino stares at her fellow blond, her eyes somehow hovering ot Naruto's sulking face. In a way she can't describe, the pout seems almost unbearable for her. For some reason, Ino's girly mind has only one translation for the sight she's seeing; cute. She blushes, but quickly covers it by looking to the side. _'Okay, where the hell did that thought come from? Am I really being delusional, or Naruto's lips __**does**__ looks so kissable?'_ Mentally, she shakes her head, _'Damn it, Ino, snap out of it! This is Naruto for crying out loud!'_

"Ino? Oi, Ino, you there?" Naruto waves his hand in front of Ino's face, trying to get her attention, "Is anyone currently in that void head of yours?"

Ino gasps lightly before slapping Naruto's hand away, "I-Idiot! Don't put your hand in front of my face!" She says, though in her head runs different set of words, which her face turns red at.

Naruto raises an eyebrow, confused like no other, "Geez, no need to get all aggressive." He says before turning to Sakura, "Sakura-chan, why are you here again?"

Now, from experience, men understands that girls need attention. Naruto, however, is no common man. His obliviousness is god-level; something that irritates Sakura so much she hits Naruto's head every time he acts like an idiot. For example, like three seconds after he asked her the earlier question.

"Baka! I'm picking you up for our daily visit! Can't you tell what time it is already?" She says, her knuckles smoking after hitting Naruto's shell-like head, "And to think you'd be grateful that I'm nice enough to pick you up."

"Grateful?" Naruto growls, his finger pointing accusingly at Sakura, "I'd be grateful when you stop making a mountain out of my head!"

"I'll stop if it weren't for the thickness of your head, Naruto-baka!" Sakura counters, shaking her fist in front of him.

Ino blinks at the sudden scene in front of her. It's rare, almost never, even, to see Naruto standing up against Sakura. For nearly her whole childhood she knew Naruto was always submissive when Sakura is the one he's up against. Now, however, it seems that Naruto has a bit of courage, enough to speak his own thoughts to Sakura. She concludes that being the village's hero as well as the entire nation's might actually toughen him up a bit more.

In the end, Naruto turns away from Sakura with a pout—_that pout again!_—and walks away. Assuming that Naruto knows where he's going, Ino turns to Sakura.

"Do you get that everyday, now?" A curious Ino asks.

"Trust me, that's still better than the days before." Sakura sighs. Kami knows how her incompetent blond teammate infuriates her so much. Strangely, she never felt tired of it. Perhaps it's because Naruto being an idiot and her hitting him on the head had became a routine in her life. She smiles unconciously, _'That idiot...he's grown. But he's still the simple-minded knucklehead he always is.'_

"Aww...somone's blushing!"

Now, when she heard that, she immediately thought that that's her inner self taunting her again. Then again, her inner self won't use that sickly sweet tone that she hated so much. The tone that only Ino can manage to use, "Who's blushing?" She retorts.

"Um, hello? You are, Billboard Brow!"

She instinctively raises her hand to her cheek, as if trying to feel the blush herself. Not that such a thing is possible, of course. She turns away angrily from her long-time rival, face flustered. Whether or not she was blushing isn't Ino's business. It's her own cheeks, for crying out loud! If she want it to redden because of something, she might as well let it be!

'_**That...sounded weird.'**_ Inner Sakura chimes.

Sakura ignores her inner self, but she then hears Ino starting to talk again, "But you know, he really is something, isn't he? That Naruto." Sakura turns to Ino, curious to what she is talking about, "I've never given him credit when we're younger, but...he's really amazing. He was the class goofball, yet now he became a hero of the whole Elemental Nations." A grin nearly splits Ino's face none so gently, "Amazing, huh?"

"Well, he is the #1 Most Unpredictable Ninja of Konoha. There's nothing impossible for him." Sakura says offhandedly, smirking lazily, "Although, it **is** impossible for him to let go of ramen." Both girls giggle; at least there's one thing that Naruto isn't capable of, which is letting go of his ramen addiction.

Eventually, Sakura bids goodbye to her rival/best friend. As she walks away, Ino suddenly calls her name, to which she turns around for. Sakura is perplexed by the smile on Ino's face; something about it makes Sakura want to shoot of another smile of her own. She asks back at the blonde girl, "What?"

The smile never disappears from Ino's face as the Yamanaka clan member says, "You're one heck of a lucky girl, Sakura."

"Huh?" Sakura never got the answer because before the words on her tongue is voiced out, Ino is already closing the door of her house. And so, the pink-haired medic is left with a dumbfounded look on her face. She frowns as her eyebrows knits together in deep thought. Shaking her head, she jogs towards Naruto and joins him in his walk. Naruto glances sideways and throws his face to the side when he notices Sakura walking on his right flank. Seeing this, Sakura sighs, "Sulking, huh? I never thought that you'd be the Shino type of guy."

"I never said I am." Naruto says offhandedly while continuing his sulking. Sakura sighs again, unable to lift up the thick atmosphere but also unable to urge herself to outright apologize to the yellow-haired boy. And so, she decides to act oblivious, "So, you already got the pass from Tsunade-shishou?"

"I wouldn't be coming with you if I haven't, would I?" Naruto asks back, prompting Sakura to raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Should I answer that?" She asks again. Naruto glances at her from the corner of his eyes, his mouth forming an annoyed scowl, "Only if you think it's not a rhetorical question."

Sakura blinks as she freezes in surprise, almost tripping herself in the middle of her trudge. She eyes Naruto suspiciously as she speaks again, "I didn't know that you already know the meaning of a rhetorical question."

"Well, I wouldn't be asking one if I haven't, would I?" He asks back.

Seriously? A sulking Naruto is just as bad as a depressed Lee, and that's saying much. The pinkette sighs tiredly, "Come on, Naruto, how long are you going to continue sulking? I know you're not the type to brood, much less about something like that." Naruto keeps silent as he continues walking with Sakura besides him. Being a stubborn girl she is, Sakura keeps her pride on and continues to walk in silence, too.

However, after five—agonizingly long—minutes, she cracks, "Oh, all right, already! You want an apology? Fine, I'm sorry for hitting you on the head, Naruto. Happy now?" The blond raises an eyebrow, seemingly amused by the pink-haired girl's sudden outburst. Unfortunately, it's a fact that Sakura isn't finished, "Jeez, and here I thought that you were pretty resilient to my punches. You've received worse before this, so why are sulking **now**?"

Naruto keeps looking at Sakura with an amused glint in his eyes, as if silently saying "are you fucking kidding me?" to Sakura. Sakura, realizing that she is being stared at, suddenly looks flustered, "W-what? Why're you staring at me like that?" She asks, her eyes losing their unmoving foundation and focuses on anything other than Naruto's piercing blue eyes. Naruto suddenly laughs his carefree laugh, confusing Sakura even further.

"What's so funny?" Sakura yells, her hands stiff on her sides like a pole. Naruto shakes his head, a grin forms on his mouth, "Nah, nothing. It's just that..." He walks away from Sakura with his hands interlacing behind his head. He turns around, flashing a mischievous smirk at Sakura, to which she suddenly finds herself blushing at.

"I forgot how cute Sakura-chan looks like when she's angry."

The blush on Sakura's cheeks increases tenfold, covering her whole face in red. A second later, hell breaks loose. "Y-YOU PERVERTED BAKA!" As Sakura gives chase to Naruto, the blond laughs while dashing away with superior speed. Sakura, however, is relentless; if she has to chase the blond idiot all the way just to introduce her fist to his head, then so be it.

And so, their walk to Sasuke's turns out to be more eventful. Though Naruto is glad that he is able to tease Sakura like that, for now he should concentrate on running away from said angry, pink-haired banshee.

**xoxoxo**

Alone in a prison cell, about fifty feet underground. Alone, caged in a...well, cage with metal bars and no evident sunlight. That would make the sanest person fall into insanity just by being there.

Uchiha Sasuke is not, however, the sanest person. Granted, a large part of his right mind has returned thanks to a certain headbutt delivered by a certain blonde knucklehead, but before that even he has to admit that he wasn't in the right state of mind. Hell, joining Akatsuki and infiltrating a heavily-guarded village, Kumogakure, and kidnapping their Jinchuuriki isn't actually the most rational decision he has ever made. Angering the Raikage, one of the strongest shinobi in the Five Great Hidden Villages, is the farthest option from the section where things make sense.

He has no regrets whatsoever, mind you. Being an Uchiha, he's too prideful to regret doing something.

If there's anything that he wished not to happen, then there may be one thing lagging in his mind. That one thing is probably the main problem he has his entire life; one thing that, if it didn't happen, then there's a possibility that his life wouldn't be so messed up. That one thing is...? One might wonder what kind of thing that **the** Uchiha Sasuke has—somewhat—regretted doing, what kind of thing that made his life such an up-and-down roller coaster. Well...

Meeting Uzumaki Naruto...is what he regretted.

Or at least he used to think so. Earlier in his avenger days, he always blamed the blond for everything he thought as a hindrance. When Naruto got stronger than him, he blamed him for that. When Naruto accomplished something bigger than he, he blamed him for that. Hell, for a short while Sasuke even blamed Naruto for Itachi's death, knowing full well that the Uzumaki didn't even do anything.

Uchiha Itachi died by his little brother's hands. Knowing that fact, a selfish part of Sasuke blamed his once-rival for it.

Right now, clad in prison clothes leaning to a brick wall with his right leg raised to prop his right arm on, Sasuke sighs. "..." He's been silent ever since he entered this prison. That's not to say that he has anything to say, either. Actually, he prefers the silence; appreciates it, even. Silence gives him room to think, to brood, to think about 'what ifs' when normal people doesn't understand what he's talking about. That's why he's such a silent person, at times. Because he knows that even if he talks, no one would understand him, nor his pain.

Unfortunately for him, even such silence has been so unachieveable nowadays. His former teammates has been visiting him quite frequently recently. At first, it was just Naruto. Then Sakura joins him. At times, when Naruto is out on a mission, Sakura even visits him by herself. He usually, no, always ignored them, thinking that they weren't worth his time. They're intruding his private time, damnit! He can at least tolerate them if they're only doing surveillance on him. Hell, he'd tolerate them if they came just to mock and criticize him for what he has done.

But, nooo...the idiots came to him just to say hello. Just to say freaking hello's, for Kami's sake!

Like any Uchiha, he's a brief, to-the-point kind of guy. He doesn't really get why people do pointless things; to him, Naruto and Sakura visiting him in jail is pointless. A scowl of annoyance forms on his face as his black charcoal eyes rolled, _'Knowing them, doing pointless things is on the top of their to-do list.'_ He thinks, silently humoring himself while after that turns surprised as he didn't expect himself to make such a joke. Well, it isn't a joke, per se; he really meant it when he says his teammates always do pointless things. Bringing him back to Konoha is one of them.

'_Well, at least it seems that I have this day to myself.'_ Sasuke raises his head to look at the empty hallway in front of his prison. The usual light of a lantern which his former teammates used to bring with them is absent, and no footsteps are heard. _'Judging by the amount of time that had passed since that ANBU gave me my lunch...it's nearly pass sundown. Guess they're not coming, after all.'_ He thinks with glee.

To his pure demise, however, Fate plays with the strings of destiny and makes a different outcome; one that the last Uchiha curses at.

Footsteps...followed by the growing light coming from the right side of the hallway in front of his prison. He's been through this routine too much for his liking that he already knows what this means. It means that he literally has an issue with karma. Just when he thought that he can brood through the entire day peacefully, two figures with bright hair colors interrupts it.

"Yo, Sasuke. Sorry for the hold-up, I was on a mission and I had to babysit a baby."

It's at times like this that the raven-haired teen wishes that life isn't such a sarcastic bastard.

"_Baka_...sorry, Sasuke-kun. Naruto was being his usual slow self and I had to practically drag his ass here."

Wishing for something too impossible results in karma. That might be one of the teachings that the Academy failed to teach.

"But, Sakura-chan, in the end we got here in time because of me, right?" The figure, now distinguishable as Naruto as the person next to him is recognizable as Sakura, groans in protest. Sasuke can see the next thing that happens, even without his Sharingan activated. Just about two seconds later Sakura will bonk Naruto's head without a logical reason.

Which she did.

"OW! Sakura-chan, what was that for?" Naruto yells in surprise, rubbing the comically swollen spot on his head soothingly, "I thought we're already over this head-bash crap!"

"We are, but that's because you look smart enough to not act like an idiot before!" Sakura yells back, raising her fist in front of her face angrily.

For crying out loud, can't anybody get some peace here? It's good enough that Tsunade gave Sasuke a quiet and peaceful place to rest, even though it's a freaking prison. But why can't he get some peaceful silence even here? Better yet, why, of all people, his former teammates are the ones that always come and disrupt that silence?

"Both of you, shut up." Sasuke finally says, his tone low and cold. "I had enough of your nonsense."

"We're sorry." Surprisingly, both Naruto and Sakura looks sheepish as they both scratch the back of their own heads guiltily. Sasuke's right eye twitches; it's bad enough that Naruto had come and put up a circus of his own, but now his comedic nature is spreading to Sakura. That disturbs the Uchiha greatly. "And here I thought I'd have this day all for myself..."

"Remind which day was it that you actually had that kind of day? Oh, yeah, now I remember! Never!" Naruto says mockingly, making stupid faces at Sasuke. While it's true that Sasuke never actually had that kind of day with Naruto and Sakura coming every freaking day to pay him a visit, the fact that Naruto just shoved that fact into his face while mocking him prompts his anger to arise. So in response, he says, "You think I need you to remind me about that, _dobe_? You've shown your face so frequently that it disgusts me."

"WHAT WAS THAT, _TEME_?"

"You heard me, idiot!"

"BASTARD!"

"DEAD-LAST!"

Both the Uzumaki and the Uchiha wear angry face and develops a humongous tick mark on their forehead. In the background, Sakura looks at the two boys and let an anime sweat-drop form on her forehead. Seconds after that, she suddenly giggles softly. If there is something she missed having, it's the unique exchange between Naruto and Sasuke which frequently ends up in both yelling at each other. It's as if the days of the old Team 7 came back to life.

Ah, good old days.

After a long-heated glaring session, Sakura finally decides to seperate the two before they try something funny; that something being something like launching an overpowered _Rasenshuriken_ and _Amaterasu_. "Alright, that's enough you two." Sakura intervenes, pushing Naruto's face away as she did with Sasuke. Both eventually wears unique emotions; Naruto with his sulking pout while Sasuke with an annoyed scoff throws his glare to the side. "Seriously, I can't begin to understand how both of you are supposed to be ultra S-class ninjas." Sakura sighs, shaking her head to which her pink hair sways lazily in response.

"Hey, don't compare me to the _dobe_, here. I'm anything but a knuckleheaded dumbass." Sasuke says, warning Sakura to watch her words.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme is incomparable to me!" Naruto retorts, seemingly looking a little annoyed. Sakura blinks in surprise and confusion; somehow in the middle of the conversation both of them had teamed up against her and put all the blame on her. What, now **she's** the bad guy? Err...I mean, girl?

'Well, boys will be boys, after all.' She thinks defeatedly. Smiling happily at the thought, she then speaks up again, this time to Sasuke, "Neh, Sasuke-kun, I'm not bringing any fruits with me today. I'm sorry, but I'll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?" Sakura's smile widens when Sasuke gives her an arrogant "hmph" in return; usually that means that he actually paid attention to someone's words.

"I don't particularly care about that." Sasuke says, still looking to the far east of his prison.

"Hey, don't talk like that, _teme_! Sakura-chan is trying to be nice to you and **that's** how you talk to her?" Naruto growls threateningly, baring his slightly longer-than-normal canines at Sasuke. Sasuke's response is to glare—which looks even more frightening than his Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan—at Naruto as he speaks in an annoyed tone, "I don't see you doing any better, idiot. What right do you have to judge me when you can't even talk to her without getting your head sledge-hammered like that?"

Just when Sakura thought that she has successfully seperate the two rivals, they butt their heads yet again. One might think that the feat is impossible due to the prison bars between their heads. However, that proves to be nothing but a small hindrance as their foreheads actually connected and they begin to try overpower each other.

"Why you bastard!"

"You got something to say, dead-last?"

"ENOUGH!"

Needless to say, the once silent, dead-beat prison has somehow gotten livelier, much to Sasuke's demise. In Sasuke's mind, him having his comfortable silence taken away from him is the equivalent of him getting torched by a _Goukakyuu_ (Great Fireball); which he really didn't prefer. Hey, guys need their private time; Sasuke being one of those who enjoys theirs in silence. And while normal people will surely have trouble thinking what they're supposed to do in silence, be reminded that Sasuke is not a normal person.

Anyway, five minutes of unending chain of mocking, taunting, head-bashing and tantrum-throwing, Sakura finally grows tired of the two boys' behaviour. Finally, she had enough, "Hmph! I think me being here will only make me even more stressed." She turns around and begins her walk towards the only door present in that room, "I'll wait outside. Anyway, I'll see you again tomorrow, 'kay Sasuke-kun?"

"Hurry up and get lost." Sasuke replies. Sakura giggles at the response; the past her would definitely have a fit hearing that kind of response from Sasuke. Fortunately, she now knew Sasuke enough to understand what he is REALLY saying. In fact, the actual translation for what he said in Uchihanese should be, "Yeah, see ya."

Unfortunately, Naruto, who isn't very fluent in Uchihanese, gets riled up and once again challenges Sasuke in a glare contest, "STOP BEING A STUCK-UP ASSHOLE, TEME!" Sakura sighs tiredly. She hopes that her choice of getting out of that hellhole is a good one. Who knows what'll happen if that two stuck-up friends/rivals get into a serious fight and blow that prison cell sky-high with a clash of SS-ranked jutsu?

'_I sure hope that that's not the case.'_ So Sakura's thought goes.

Sakura eventually goes out through the door and closes it. Beyond the door, just as the door slams shut, Naruto and Sasuke are still glaring at one another. Naruto, still feeling agitated, pouts and complains, "Huh...and I thought some time alone with your thoughts would've made you nicer to people. Guess you really need a psychiatrist..."

Sasuke just scoffs and throws his glance to the side, "**I** need a psychiatrist? You're the one mental enough to visit an S-ranked missing-nin in his cell."

Silence ensues. Not even the wind dared to interrupt it; partly because there isn't any to begin with. Naruto looks up at Sasuke with solemn eyes, staring at the raven-haired Uchiha with no words spoken. Sasuke doesn't look back. Instead, he suddenly takes out a pencil and a piece of paper and starts to write. The sight caught Naruto's interest as he then blinks in surprise. He tilts his head questioningly, "You still haven't finished it yet?"

"Shut up. Literature isn't that easy to make."

Yes, ladies and gentlenins, Uchiha Sasuke is writing! And not just any writing; he's making an auto-biography of his life! Truly, this is a sight to be seen and news to be awarded a Nobel prize.

Well, that's not really unexpected, actually. What, you think Sasuke's only thing to do was to sit back and relax in that cell? Nope, as an Uchiha he doesn't believe in doing meaningless things, as I have said before. And with that much brooding he had done in his time there in that stinking cell, sooner or later even he would cave in and actually do something. And with all that muse in that head of his, he decided to start a productive action, that is writing.

He even had his own official title; Life of an Avenger.

"Well, I admit that's true. But, it's just a freaking biograpghy where all you talk about is yourself! How could that be so hard to write? Even Ero-sennin's pervy novels finished earlier than yours."

"Hey, it takes a lot of brain cells to put what you've experience into words. Brain cells which you don't have, so you wouldn't understand it." Sasuke scoffs mockingly. Naruto growls in annoyance. Sasuke has always been able to press his buttons; a talent that Naruto has long despised since his Academy days. "You know, I've always thought you're an annoying bastard."

"You've made that thought quite clear for me. If you forget, that's what you say all the time." Sasuke replied calmly.

Naruto just stares at the Uchiha, letting the silence stretch between them. Though this is a rarity for Naruto (who is the epitome of loudness), people has realized that silence is probably the only form of peaceful interaction between the Uzumaki and the Uchiha. It's been like that for a long time, actually. Both of them are too stubborn to actually outrightly say something nicely to each other. That's why they settled for the silent treatment; there's more exchange between them in silence than when they use words. Perhaps it's a kind of interaction unique only to them.

"You know she's worried sick about you, don't you?" Naruto finally says, deciding that silence isn't taking them anywhere.

"Who?" Sasuke asks, his eyes never leaving the piece of paper on his lap. He seems too focused on his writing, but Naruto could tell that he has got Sasuke's attention. He smiles at the raven-haired Uchiha, "You know who."

"No, I don't. Please enlighten me."

A sigh flies past Naruto's mouth. Sasuke can be really stubborn when he wants to. It kinda irritates the blond Jinchuuriki, too. He holds his irritation inside, however, and decides to try the not-boisterous approach, "Aka-ch...Karin." He shakes his head, clearly not expecting that little slip of his tongue. Sasuke looks up with interest; Naruto's slip finally caught his full attention, "Hmph. I guess I'm not the only one who changed in prison."

"What does that suppose to mean?" Naruto glares at Sasuke, who smirks back tauntingly, "Nothing. It's just that Karin wasn't actually eager to make friends."

"Well, if you're talking about yourself, you **did **act like a total jerk towards her." The blond points out, "After all, not everyone can take a _Chidori Tachi_ (Thousand Birds Long Sword) to the chest and be okay with it." Naruto growls the last part out. He doesn't particularly like it when Sakura told him what exactly happened back at the bridge. And now that he's friends with Karin, he kind of hated Sasuke for what he did. Sasuke shrugs as if he's an innocent being charged with false accusations, which he isn't, "I...wasn't really in the right state of mind."

"Damn right, you weren't." Naruto scowls, "But it seems she knew that, too. Now, when are you going to apologize to her?"

Sasuke sighs tiredly. His right hand has stopped moving a long time ago; at least, it feels so to Sasuke. He suddenly loses his interest in his writing, to which he curses at, _'Damn. Just when it's getting to the good part...'_ The grip on his pencil suddenly gets tighter; to the point it finally cracks under pressure and splits into two. Sasuke looks surprised when the pencil breaks; it seems that he wasn't expecting that.

Naruto's eyes softens at the scene. So much regret is pouring out of Sasuke's person. It's as if he'd hang himself then and there if Naruto isn't there.

"Tch...I need more pencils." Sasuke mutters. Naruto almost laughs at his friend's comment. What Sasuke actually needs isn't more pencil; rather, an anger management. "Don't worry. If you're a good boy, I believe Santa will give you something better than a piece of wood you call a pencil." Naruto says, grinning widely. Sasuke cast the blond a look that makes Naruto feels like a complete nutcase, which is what Sasuke intends to project. "You still believe in that childhood story?"

"Yeah, I do! Don't you?"

"I don't believe in superstitions."

"Hey, Santa's not a superstition! He's real!"

Sasuke sighs; right now, he's even getting tired of sighing, too. "Grow up, Naruto. No matter how good of a boy you are, a myth will always be a myth. Santa's not coming here."

Naruto snorts, "Well, as future Hokage, I'm really disappointed by the lack of Chirstmas spirit this village has. Santa's not a myth! He's totally real, and he's going to be here this Christmas!" He'd be damned if he let the Third's beliefs be ignored like this. However, it seems Sasuke doesn't really care about that; if his ignorant attitude means anything, at all, "Hn. I think I'll see to that."

"Jeez, you're just as much as a downer as you ever are, Sasuke-teme." Naruto says, scowling at the Uchiha once again. With a grunt, Naruto stands up, which he blinks in surprise at; it seems sometime between their conversation he has gotten comfortable enough to sit down. He turns his head to face Sasuke again, "Think about what I said, Sasuke. Sooner or later, you'll have to apologize to Karin; though, personally I think the sooner the better." He turns around and was about to start his walk when Sasuke speaks up, shocking him with his words, "Well, aren't you the over-protective cousin?" he says, snorting in amusement.

Naruto freezes in his step. Once again, he turns around with shock-filled eyes, "What?"

"She hasn't told you, yet? Well that's a surprise...must've forgotten that she's an Uzumaki herself." Sasuke chuckles at the look Naruto is giving him. He can't blame the blond, though, because he knows if he was in his shoes he'd be as shell-shocked as Naruto is. "I heard it from Kabuto when he fought before. It seems that redheads are common in your clan."

"Well, yeah, my mom has red hair, but...seriously, Karin?" Naruto lets out in disbelief.

"Yep. I don't think Kabuto would be lying about that, because he also told me that Nagato is an Uzumaki as well." Sasuke reasons. It's not that he believes in Kabuto; heck, the bastard was a deceiving mastermind up until his end. The only reason he trusts the information Kabuto gave him is because the Snake Sage's was arrogant enough to actually speak truthfully about some things.

"WHAT? Nagato's an Uzumaki?" If there was ever one time that Uzumaki Naruto gets a shocking, figurative kick in the head...well, let's just say this one scores a successful 60-yard field goal.

"What, so he didn't tell you that, too? I thought you said that you've met him personally in your fight against him?" Sasuke inquires, quirking a curious eyebrow.

"I did, but he didn't tell me that. Actually, he didn't tell me even after he was resurrected." Naruto says, scratching the nape of his neck sheepishly, "I guess...because he was an orphan at a very young age he hasn't really got to know his clan name. But, I suppose I should've suspected the red hair, if that's the case."

"Hn. Good thing not all Uzumaki are knuckle-headed blonds, because I still prefer the red-heads." Sasuke says, shrugging his shoulder while sighing heavily, "Just my luck to meet the one with blond hair..."

"You know what, Teme? You're an ass."

"At least I have one."

Naruto grits his teeth in anger and annoyance; if Sasuke isn't imprisoned right now, he'd already challenged him to an all-out duel just for the heck of it. Sasuke isn't really sociable, but when he tries to be he's one annoying bastard. But Naruto refrains—Thank God—and stomps his way out of the room, nearly knocking the door off its hinges when he burst right through it.

Sasuke chuckles, amused by the comical scene in front of him. Then, he stops his little laugh. His eyes widen in surprise as he just **chuckled**; a happy chuckle at that. He thought that he left those positive emotions behind a long time ago...perhaps not. He shakes his head in disbelief; to think that enough visits from his former teammates can change him like this. It's scary to think that he'd change so drastically.

"...maybe you're right, Naruto. I should apologize to your beloved cousin." Sasuke muses out loud. He chuckles to himself again, mentally giving himself a pat on the back for creating another taunt for Naruto when he decides to visit again. _'Just not now. Currently, I can't trust myself not to run away just by looking at her. But...someday...I'll repent for my sins.'_

So, then and there, in the cold underground prison where the sanest people can go insane, Uchiha Sasuke makes a vow.

**xoxoxo**

It's been a while since Sakura went throught the heavily-guarded gate that leads to Sasuke's underground prison, and it's been some time since she started to sit down against a tree with leaves that shields her from the sunlight.

'_Naruto and Sasuke sure are taking their sweet time talking to each other.'_ She muses. It's not that she doesn't approve it; on the contrary, she's happy that they're all together again. It's just that, waiting for them while being blankly stared by the emotionless mask of the ANBU guards really creeps her out, and the fact that they're as silent as a rock doesn't help.

'_Grr...I don't know why but Naruto can always make me feel like punching someone's head off!'_ She thinks, angrily clawing the ground beside her as she—for no rational reason—tries to find a suitable punching bag. Somehow, she just felt like she is being left out on something important, but she couldn't put her finger on why did she feel so. Unknown to her, the ANBU guards that were mentioned before are staring at her with an amused look under their mask. It's a pretty rare sight for the Fifth Hokage's apprentice to look so irritated while seemingly raking her fingers along the dirt beside her like that. If it wasn't for their training, they'd be snickering right now.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you're in the ANBU's shoes), Naruto finally comes out of the underground prison via the metal entrance door. He seems to be huffing; whether out of exhaustion or some other reasons, no one really knows. The blond Uzumaki then looks at both of the guards with an annoyed look on his face, saying, "Say, you might want to shorten that hallway to Sasuke's cell. It's fun the first three-times, but it's getting a little tiring the next four and five times."

"I'll, uh...be sure to notify the Hokage, Uzumaki-san." Says one ANBU with a hawk mask. Mentally, however, he's debating with himself while thinking whether or not the Hokage has an architect suitable for the task. His comrade, an ANBU wearing a bear mask, can't help but wonder if shortening the hallway is even possible.

"Yeah, Baa-chan really needs a nicer touch for the prison." Naruto sighs, sounding disappointed, "Seriously, a prison with no windows, no bed AND no television? What was she thinking, anyway...?"

Again, if it wasn't for the ANBU training the two guards underwent, they'd already be laughing their asses out. So instead, Hawk gives Naruto a skeptical look while asking the blond, "Err...but, isn't that the point of even making a prison? We can't make prisons that luxurious; not only it'll cost much, but criminals would be enjoying themselves too much in jail."

Naruto looks at them, face aghast and surprised. _'I thought they were supposed to have a good time...*sigh*, maybe I need to look back at that before being a Hokage, if that's the case.'_

Before any of them could continue, Naruto is suddenly pulled away by a fuming Sakura, who surprisingly has enough strength to jerk him forcefully. "NA-RU-TOOO! You better have a good explanation for making me wait that long!"

"Ah, Sakura-chan! Were you waiting the whole time?" Naruto asks, a surprised but happy grin crossed his face.

"Idiot. We're going to walk home together, so of course, I am; why'd you think I'm still here?" She asks back.

"So true." Naruto chuckles, finally standing upright and walks off with Sakura. The ANBU guards, left behind by the two ninjas, looks at them questioningly. Bear turns to Hawk, his head tilted questioningly, "Are we really going to renovate the hallway?"

Hawk snickers at Bear's question, "I have a better idea. Rather than renovate the hallway and risk Uchiha Sasuke getting away, why don't we cast a Genjutsu that makes the hallway looks shortened, but it's not and they still feel exhausted just by walking through it?"

Bear looks at his guard partner, a grin forms under his mask, "You're a genius, Hawk, you know that?"

Elsewhere, back to our favorite couple (don't worry, they didn't hear me say that, so I'm safe :D), Naruto has just finished telling the story of what happened after Sakura left the prison room. Sakura looks amazed, if anything. Karin has become one of her friends, and to hear that she's actually Naruto's cousin surprises her. "I never thought you'd be her cousin. I mean, look at you; you're a hell lot different than her!"

"Ah. You mean the hair?"

"Actually, I meant the brain, but the hair's different, too."

Naruto's shoulder slumps, "Sakura-chaaaan..."

Sakura giggles at Naruto's behaviour. Seriously, one may say he has matured, but with Naruto it's safe to say he's a kid trapped in an older body. "Wow, that really changes how I see her..."

"Me too! I never thought that I'd have a cousin, or any relative at that! And the part with Nagato is a shocker as well." Naruto says enthusiastically, giving Sakura a mental image of a eight-year old. Naruto's childish antics never gets old, that much she knows. She smiles widely at the blond, looking at him with interest. Naruto hasn't noticed the stare that Sakura is giving him, and continues on with his animated chattering.

It is then that something just...clicked inside Sakura. Somewhere, deep inside herself, something turns on and makes her feel like lurching out to Naruto. She blushes at the thought; the idea embarassing her so much. It's something like an adrenaline push, refreshing her body and focusing her mind only on one thing. That one thing, is a problem that she has buried deep inside her mind, so deep that she has nearly forgotten about it.

She's not to blame, though. This problem is very emotional to her, and utterly stressful. Her body reacts to the fact that this problem stresses her out, and buries that painful memory so that she won't think about it again. However, these past days, she has began to think about it again. And then, there's the adrenaline push that makes her suddenly want to finish this problem as quick as possible, not worrying whether the outcome is good or bad.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"

"I...I was wondering..." She begins shakily. She has stopped walking just a second ago, and Naruto stopped at her call just a few feet in front of her. Now looking at her in a confused manner, he asks again, "Yes?"

Sakura is visibly trembling, which is a strange sight for Naruto. He raises an eyebrow and walks closer to Sakura, his cerulean-colored eyes looking right into her emerald ones, "Sakura-chan, what is it? Are you cold?"

Sakura shakes her head, her pink bangs flailing around as she did, and stares back at Naruto intensely. Naruto, surprised by the intensity of her eyes, takes a step back unconciously. Sakura kept her stare unwavering, and then says, almost pleading, "Naruto...for this one time, please be honest to me."

"What do you mean?" Naruto inquires curiously.

"Just please!" Sakura exclaims, surprising Naruto yet again, "I have this problem that involves you and...it can only be solved by you being honest to me."

"What's this about so suddenly, Sakura-chan? Is it about Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes narrows at the thought of Sasuke. If that emo caused a problem for Sakura, he'll go back to that cell and demand an apology from that bastard.

Amazingly, Sakura shakes her head while she almost yells out frustratingly, "NO! I told you; it concerns you, and only YOU! Just...please Naruto, promise that you'll tell me the truth." She is now outright begging to him, and looks almost pathetic. Naruto frowns; he doesn't like seeing Sakura so vulnerable like this, but he has no idea what this problem of her is. Just what kind of problem she has that, not only stressed her to the point that she'd beg for it to end, but involves him as well? However, Naruto spends no time in figuring that out. He doesn't need to.

This is Sakura-chan he's talking to. He doesn't need to waste time figuring out what problem she's in when she's already literally extending her hand in search of help. So help him, he'll take that hand without any doubt.

"Alright, Sakura-chan. I'll be honest, whatever it is that you want to ask me." Naruto says, closing his eyes before opening them and looks solemnly at his pink-haired friend, "Now, tell me. What is it?"

Sakura exhales a breath that she, unconciously, has held for quite a while. She suddenly feels cold; perhaps because of the winds of the coming winter. '_This cold feeling...it's the same as that day.'_ She thinks. She takes a shaky step forward, another one, and when all she could see in front of her is Naruto's clothed chest, she raises her head. Her eyes, glistening in the sunlight and covered by some tears that refuse to fall, looks into Naruto's eyes of the deep blue ocean. Then, with the clear sound of a head medic but in the low volume of a drifting cherry blossom petal, she asks the question that's been nagging her mind for quite a while.

"Do you hate me, Naruto?"

_*Background song activates: Dai- You*_

And then there is silence. One that reigns the air around them, one that lets no sound to interrupt it...so sickening. There isn't even any wind blowing the dust around them. The only sound that the silence lets through is only the sound of the cicadas' crying; which is strange because it's not even summer, far from it. Naruto notices this strange phenomenon, but he doesn't really pay it any visible attention.

'_Maybe the cicadas want to cry for the last time...just this once before winter comes and shuts them up.'_ Naruto thinks, his eyes slowly turning half-lidded as he looks at Sakura. _'Could it be that Sakura-chan is the same as the cicadas? Is she trying to tell me something before winter's coldness gets her?'_ He thinks again. He hopes that isn't the case, because it's as if Sakura's trying to say goodbye. He can feel his heart tightening at the sight of Sakura's frail form; it's the first time he saw her so...fragile.

He finally takes a tentative step into the conversation, "Wha—what are you talking about Sakura-chan? Of course, I don't hate you! Why would I? You're my best friend, and my precious teammate. There's no way I'd hate you, even if you take my secret stash of ramen!" He grins widely at the pink-haired medic, giving the brightest look he ever has.

Unfortunately, the reaction Sakura gives him is really unexpected. The tears that she has held in so desperately...falls. "...you're lying."

"I'm not! I really don't—"

"DON'T! Don't give me that! I know that I've hurt you deeply that day in Iron Country, and I know that just saying sorry isn't enough for you to forgive me. I know you...that you must've hated me for what I said." Sakura holds her trembling hands and places them near her heart; a trait that she does every time she's nervous, scared, or in a nerve-wrecking situation. "Please...tell me the truth. Don't give me that fake mask that you always lie to me with...just the truth."

"I..." Naruto doesn't know what to do. Sakura is blaming herself for something that he has forgiven long ago. As much as he hated how Sakura could even think to make something up like that, he can't hold a grudge; especially not to her. "Sakura-chan...I really don't hate you. Whatever it is that happened, it's all in the past. I can't be angry forever; I'm still human, no matter what."

Sakura sniffles, wiping her teary eyes only to open them with another fresh batch of tears. The hands near her heart tightens as her heart feels like clenching as a bitter smile makes its way up to her lips, "You know, Naruto? There's one thing that I think I'll always hate."

Naruto blinks in surprise, a bit taken by the sudden change of topic, "Wh-what is that thing, Sakura-chan?"

The emerald-eyed Haruno's eyes then shoots up, tears still flowing but her eyes is filled with emotions. When she speaks up again, her voice is cracked but remains steady, though it is the words she spoke that shocks Naruto the most.

"I...hate people who lie to themselves!"

Tremor. Yes, that should be the right word to describe what goes through Naruto's whole body after hearin Sakura's statement. Having his own words taken and used against him is more than a little discomforting. "But, Sakura-chan, I'm being truthful to myself! I. Don't. Hate you! Why would you think that I'd hate you?"

"Because...just because!"

"That's not even a real reason."

"Fine! It's because I would feel the same thing if I was in your place! If I could go back to that day, I'd prevent myself from saying anything and I'd make sure that everything's going to be okay!" Sakura yells. It is fortunate that no one is around at that time, or there could be a massive gathering of people with confused faces looking at both of the ninjas. Sakura sighs shakily, wiping her tears again as she continues, "Naruto...I would never forgive myself for betraying your trust like that. Truth is, even now, I still find it hard to forgive myself. I imagined...it must be impossible for you to forgive me, _ne_?" A bitter smile once again makes its way to her lips.

Naruto's heart clenches at the sight of Sakura's saddened face, and at the sound of her obviously-hurting voice. He tries to say something, but Sakura beats him to it, "That's why...I'm not asking for your forgiveness, nor am I asking you to not hate me. I just...I just want to let you know that, whether or not you hate me, I still hope that you'll still be my best friend." In the end, Sakura's gaze falls to the floor, her head bowing down and her bangs hiding her eyes, "That's it. Until now, that's the only thing I continue to wish for."

"Sakura-chan..."

"Please...will you grant me that one wish? Just this once, can you still accept me?" Sakura presses on. Naruto, as of now, has a serious expression on his face. Sakura, although not knowing what his answer will be, already fears for the worst. She is quite familiar with rejection, but she will never be used to it. By the looks of it, she just made Naruto remember how much he hates her for what happened. _'I don't have any choice, do I?'_ Sakura thinks solemnly, _'I'd rather live knowing that Naruto hates me rather than make him lie to himself every time he sees me...'_

While Sakura was deep in thought, Naruto had closed the distance between them. Then, to her utmost shock, he hugs her tightly with his right hand behind her head while the other is on her back. Realizing what is happening, Sakura blushes heavily, "Na-Naruto?"

"Sakura-chan," He smiles softly, unseen to Sakura as his head is beside hers, "thank you."

Sakura's eyes widens more, remembering that this is the exact same hug she gave him after his battle against Pein. Nevertheless, she asks him, "Why? What for?"

Unconciously, Naruto let his right hand comb through Sakura's pink locks slowly. He smiles for a bit before answering her with his usual cheery tone, "For caring about my feelings so much." Eventually, and reluctantly, Naruto pulls away from Sakura while having the same smile he had when he was still hugging her, "And for being truly sorry for that incident. To tell you the truth, I've already forgiven you a long time ago." He chuckles slightly, "I mean, all you were trying to do was to protect me. How can I be mad if that's your true intention? Even though, yeah, the confession is fake and if I may be so bold to say, Sakura-ojouchan, sooo out of character," Sakura giggles at Naruto's joke, a slight blush forms on her cheeks hearing his overly well-mannered way of regarding her, "in the end, I'm grateful that you did what you did."

"Is that so?" Sakura asks, raising her eyebrow in mock curiosity, "Well, then, I forgive your bold words, Naruto-dono."

Both of them share a good laughter, holding their stomachs to keep their guts from figuratively spilling out. This is the kind of times that both Naruto and Sakura cherish; when they can laugh openly together and make stupid faces without worrying if anyone would see them and look at them disgusted. As their laughter dies down, Sakura wipes the leftover tears from her eyes, "Hehe..._Baka_, Naruto. You're such a _baka_ sometimes."

"Yup, but don't tell anyone about it. Otherwise, they'd have second thoughts about making me Hokage!" Naruto lets out, laughing again.

"Pfft, please. Everyone already know that you're a thick-headed idiot."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not, and I proved it by outsmarting Kakashi-sensei in our second bell test!"

"Are too, because you used his pervy book as a weapon!"

"...touché."

"Darn right."

Their animated chatting continues on and on, to the point that they don't even watch where they're going and arrive in front of Sakura's house without them realizing it. It's only when Naruto is looking away and his gaze accidentally falls on Sakura's doorstep that he realizes where they are, "Oh, look Sakura-chan! We're here!"

"Hm?" A bit surprised, Sakura turns her head to the same direction Naruto's facing and realizes that she is looking at her own house, "Oh, yeah. Wow, that was pretty quick. I didn't think that we'll get here this fast."

"Well, you gotta admit, spending time with me is a real time-killer." Naruto says proudly, cracking a foxy grin at Sakura. Sakura shakes her head while smiling at Naruto's behaviour. She exhales tiredly, which her eyes follows by drooping slightly as if on cue, "Yeah, you're right."

"And poor little Sakura-chan is already half-asleep, huh? Now that's a first; you never looked this tired since forever."

"Haha...I guess my accumulated exhaustion has finally caught up with me." She's partly lying, actually. Most of her exhaustion comes from that earlier adrenaline push when she decided to question Naruto. That, and the emotional stress that she held back finally shows its effect. "Maybe Tsunade-shishou's right; I am really pushing myself too hard in my hospital work."

"You shouldn't do that, Sakura-chan. You're the best medic there is, just a hair away from Baa-chan. If you get sick, I doubt any other medic can get your job done." The blond-haired Uzumaki says, cheesy as it may be but it gains a giggle from Sakura. In her mind, Inner Sakura is doing happy backflips, _**'Aww, isn't he a charmer?'**_

"Well, I should get going. I got one last mission, and it needs me to get some trees from the forest. See ya tomorrow then, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asks, a sheepish smile forming on his face.

"Already? You sure you don't want to come in first? My mom should be making tea around these hours." Sakura asks, disappointment slightly crosses her face when Naruto was saying his farewell. She didn't think that he'd be leaving this soon.

However, Naruto politely declines with a shake of his head, "Nah, I'm good, but thanks for the invitation. Oh, and tell Yoshino-san that I appreciated yesterday's treat! It's quite the timing, too, because I ran out of cup ramen in home."

"I'll make sure she knows it. Hopefully, she won't freak out about you having run out of ramen and decides to buy some for you herself." Sakura says, snorting in amusement as she can picture exactly how her mother would react.

Naruto laughs lightly, "Your royal family's too kind to me, Sakura-ojouchan. But, fear not, for someday I shall repay my debts!" He says in that mock tone of royalty. Sakura sticks out her tongue tauntingly; she really likes hearing Naruto talking all so high-and-mighty like that. It sounds really funny, at least to her. "I'd like to see you try." She taunts.

Naruto sticks out his fist, grinning his usual bright grin, "Believe it!" And then, Naruto turns around, beginning his lonely walk home alone. But just when he's only two steps deep into his journey, Sakura's voice stops him, "Naruto?"

"Hm?" Naruto turns around once more and looks at Sakura. Right at that moment, the wind decides to blow and in that sudden gust of wind, it makes both Sakura's and Naruto's hair wave wildly. Sakura smiles sweetly at Naruto, brushing her bangs away from her face as it keeps slapping her cheeks because of the wind. Her expression is one of relief and gratefulness as she speaks up again, "Thank you. For still being my friend, and all. Thank you for granting my wish."

The Naruto in the past would've made a perfect somersault and scream out in joy how he had made his dream girl's wish came true. But no, this one isn't the hyperactive, goofy him anymore...well, okay, he's still a hyperactive goofball. Still, this boy—man—is the hero of the Elemental Nations. He's bound to mature sooner or later; it doesn't matter whether he's childish at mind or heart, or both of them, at that. So, this Naruto of the present is more...subtle.

"Anything for you, Sakura-chan." He—for once since a long time—puts up his 'nice guy' pose and shoots a wide grin at Sakura, "That's a wish that you don't have to wait Santa for."

**xoxoxo**

**Aaaand cut! Wow, I managed to finish this monster of a chapter. I think I should be proud, but the fact that this fic has been drawnback since...what, last New Year's eve? It really kills the mood. Really, I'm really struggling with this fic, all because my idea of making a simple one-shot turned into a two-shot with a prologue, and a gigantic-assed chapter to boot. This proves that I can't, and shouldn't play with time-_-**

**Kakashi: Maa, you might need to relax a little. Even Jiraiya-sama, bless his soul, gets behind deadline sometimes.  
>Me: Well, Jiraiya's not a fanfic writer. He's a perverted novelist.<br>Kakashi: At least he sells.  
>Me: Damn it.<strong>

**Anyway, how's the story? If anyone noticed the detail in Naruto and Karin's prison time, and if you're also a Fairy Tail reader, then yes I took the idea from the similar scene when Natsu broke into Erza's court. And, yes, the Dragon Slayer ended up just like Naruto.  
>Also, I tried as best as I could to make Naruto more of a ladies' man. In the end, perhaps I made him into a guy with Ayasaki Hayate's equal luck with girls (for those who don't read it, it's from Hayate the Combat Butler). But, I guess Naruto pulled it through just good, ne?<strong>

**Naruto: You wish.**

**Me: Ignoring the fishcake's comment, let's start with the glossary! If you noticed some words in the story with the tiny superscripted numbers beside them, they're some details that need further explanation. Well, at least, I think so.**

_**Glossary:**_

Amahara Garden: Yes, Blue Exorcist's fans, I took it from your beloved manga. To be frank, Amahara Garden is the most beautiful and colorful garden in the world; so the manga says. In short, just as All Blue is the legendary sea in the whole ocean of the One Piece universe, the same could be said with Amahara Garden.

Mr. Kudo: I tried to make a "Sherlock" or "Mr. Holmes", but it failed misreably when I remembered that this is manga/anime world. So, in honor of one of the greatest detectives in the manga world that I've come to respect, I changed into " ", Kudo Shinichi of Detective Conan's universe.

Can with a kunai: Actually that's a sentence that I heard from Johnny English: Reborn, where Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English says to a guy from the Vortex organization, "You can't even hit a **bongo** with a **banana**." I thought that "bongo" and "banana" rhymed quite well, so I made another one which rhymes, which is "can" and "kunai".

**Alright, I'm feeling generous, so I'm going to give you a little teaser of the next chapter (which would probably come even later because I'm currently trying to give an epic finishing to Arachnid Hero and the Fox Host).**

"Sometimes, Christmas isn't just about huge trees and glowing lamps." Tsunade says.

"Shishou?"

"It's also about how and who you spend it with."

xoxoxo

"What the..." Sasuke mutters, shaken to the core.

"Maybe the _dobe_'s right...that Santa guy **does** exist."

xoxoxo

"Hinata...I'm...I don't know what to say."

Hinata smiles softly, just like the way she always does, "Then, don't say anything. I-I know how y-you might feel, right now I mean...

"You really DO love her..._ne_, Naruto-kun?"

xoxoxo

"I still don't know what's this for, Naruto, but I'm pretty sure you've matured enough to not prank a Christmas party."

"Just so you know, Tenten," Naruto grabs his purchase and slings it over his shoulders, "This is part of the party."

xoxoxo

"Wait, wait! If she's YOUR cousin, and you're MY cousin, then that means..." His eyes widen in surprise, "That means one of my cousins tried to beat me to death!"

"Feh...I can't believe it. To think I'm related to this idiot."

"Karui, if you insult the nation's hero, then you might be arrested, then you'll be thrown to jail, then you'll be exec—"

"SHUT UP, OMOI!"

xoxoxo

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" He steps closer, the cloth bag slung on his shoulder swaying by each of his step.

"It is. And to think that men in red who carries a cloth bag and grants wishes really do exist...it's really an interesting night."

"The appropriate name for me, my dear lady," The man grins widely under the fake beard he's wearing, "is Santa Claus!"

xoxoxo

**Too long, perhaps? Well, that's only 10 percent of the story. Phew, and so much will happen just in one chapter...I might really overdo myself.**

**Well, see you on the next chapter. This is SpinLord, spinnin' out!**


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